Ancient  Mystery'! 


W-J-COLvfi 


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Ancient  Mysteries  and 
Modern  Revelations 


BY 


W,    J.     COLVILLR 


The  Progressive  Thinker  Publishing  House 

106  Loomis  St.  Chicago,  Illinois 

19  16 


>  i  '  Q  C 


COPYRIGHT,  1916 

By  M.  E.  CADWALLADER 


Ancient  Mysteries 


DEDICATION  TO  HALLEY'S  COMET. 

Bright  harbinger  of  glorious  light, 
Illumining  both  morn  and  night, 
Fair  messenger  thro'  vibrant  space, 
Running  thy  rapid  wondrous  race, 
Untiring  as  the  ages  roll, 
Suggesting  our  undying  soul. 
Witness  to  Heaven's  all-constant  law, 
From  thee  we  inspiration  draw. 
Welcome,  thrice  welcome,  in  our  sky. 
Pointing  to  days  of  freedom  nigh. 
As  on  thy  radiant  form  I  look. 
To  thee  I  dedicate  this  book. 

May  i8,  1910.  W.  J.  Coi.vii.le:. 


"'I'lSlO 


PUBLISHERS'  INTRODUCTION 


ANCIENT  MYSTERIES 
AND  MODERN  REVELATION 


In  presenting  to  our  readers  as  an  addition  to  The 
Progressive  Thinker  Library  this  volume  so  replete 
with  information  from  the  inspired  pen  of  W.  J.  Col- 
ville,  the  gifted  lecturer  and  author,  we  are  adding  a 
book  well  worth  the  perusal  of  every  student  of 
advanced  thought. 

The  Progressive  Thinker  Library  is  composed  of 
books  which  will  rank  with  the  leading  books  upon 
Spiritual,  Educational,  Scientific,  and  Occult  subjects, 
and  we  are  enhancing  its  value  by  adding  to  it  Ancient 
Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelation. 

We  trust  our  readers  will  enjoy  its  pages  and  accept 
the  best  wishes  of  the  publisher. 

M.  E.  Cadwallader. 


•    •  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  Bibles  Under  Modern  Searchlight 15 

II.  Rivers  of  Life  or  Faiths  of  Man  in  All 

Lands 7,2 

III.  Ancient  and  Modern  Ideas  of  Revelation 

— Its  Sources  and  Agencies 53 

l\\  Various  Spiritual  Elements  in  the  Bible 

and  Classic  Literature 72 

V.  Creation  Legends — How  Ancient  is  Hu- 
manity on  this  Planet? — Hindu  Chro- 
nology       90 

VI.  Egypt  and   Its   Wonders:   Literally   and 

Mystically   Considered loi 

VII.  The  Philosophy  of  Ancient  Greece — The 
School    of    Pythagoras — The    Delphic 

Mysteries 114 

VIII.  Apollonius  of  Tyana 139 

IX.  Five  Varieties  of  Yoga — Union  of  East- 
ern and  Western  Philosophy 145 

X.  Ezekiel's    Wheel  —  What    it    Signifies  — 

Astrology  in  Prophecy 162 

XL  Emanuel  Swedenborg  and  His  Doctrine 

of   Correspondences 170 

XII.  The  Book  of  Exodus— Its  Practical  and 

Esoteric  Teachings 189 

XIII.  The  Story  of  the  Passover  and  the  Pillar 

of  Fire  in  the  Wilderness 203 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  ~  PAGE 

XIV.  The  Message  of  Buddhism — Purity  and 

Philanthropy 215 

XV.  Magic  in  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages — Its 
Connection    with    Mysterious    Healing 

and  Marvellous  Deliverances 228 

XVI.  Ancient  Magic  and  Modern  Therapeutics 

— Paracelsus  and  Von  Helmont 241 

XVII.  Jeanne  D'Arc,  the  Maid  of  Orleans 261 

XVIII.  Andrew  Jackson  Davis,  a  Nineteenth 
Century  Seer — A  Glimpse  at  His  Phi- 
losophy    280 

XIX.  Bible    Symbolism  —  Aaron's    Breastplate 
and  Other  Typical  Ornaments  and  Em 
blems — The  Moral  Influence  of  Beauty 

and  the  Significance  of  Color 292 

XX.  Life  and  Matter — The  Latest  Views  on 
Evolution  —  Position     of     Sir     Oliver 

Lodge  . 304 

XXI.  The  Law  of  Seven  and  the  Law  of  Unity.  311 
XXII.  Spiritualism  and  the  Deepening  of  Spirit- 
ual   Life 316 

XXIII.  The  Esoteric  Teachings  of  the  Gnostics — 

The  Divine  Feminine 336 

XXIV.  Halley's  Comet— Its  History  and  Portent 

— Visible  in   1910 347 

Psychopathic  Treatment;   or  Suggestive 
Therapy  in  Practical  Application 353 


AUTHOR'S  FOREWORD. 

In  presenting  the  following  pages  to  the  world  I 
desire  to  offer  a  few  explanatory  words  concerning 
the  form  in  which  this  book  appears. 

During  my  6  months'  residence  in  the  city  of 
Washington,  U.  S.  A.,  which  comprised  the  winter 
of  1909-10,  I  was  earnestly  entreated  by  many 
friends  to  compile  a  volume  which  should  embody 
the  gist  of  a  very  large  number  of  lectures  delivered 
during  that  period,  especially  those  which  dealt 
particularly  with  the  Sacred  Books  of  the  world. 

Owing  to  the  very  large  amount  of  space  re- 
quired for  even  the  barest  outline  of  treatment  of 
the  Scriptures  venerated  by  Jews  and  Christians 
alone,  to  say  nothing  of  the  Sacred  Books  of 
other  faiths,  I  have  attempted  to  present  in  this 
volume  only  discourses  on  those  themes  which  have 
been  specially  brought  to  my  attention  by  friends 
and  students  in  many  different  places  which  I  have 
visited  and  where  my  earlier  books  have  widely 
circulated.  To  take  up  this  entire  subject  at  any 
length,  or  even  to  treat  any  portion  of  it  with  any- 
thing like  fullness,  would  necessitate  the  publication 
of  quite  a  long  series  of  volumes,  to  which  the 
present  fragmentary  work  may  possibly  consitute 
an  introduction.     This  particular  book  aims  only 

vii 


viii  Preface. 

at  presenting,  in  meagre  outline,  a  view  of  revel- 
ation and  inspiration  which  renders  it  easily  possible 
for  us  to  admire  and  venerate  the  Bibles  of  all 
peoples,  without  in  any  sense  making  a  claim  for 
their  infallibility  or  finality.  One  of  the  chief 
objects  of  all  these  discourses  or  essays  is  to  in- 
crease interest  in  universal  aspects  of  religion  and 
philosophy,  and  wherever  possible  to  throw  some 
light  on  doctrines  which  are  still  occasioning  much 
perplexity  in  many  quarters.  So  much  general  in- 
terest is  now  evinced  regarding  all  that  pertains  to 
the  psychic  side  of  every  subject,  and  so  many 
curious  and  conflicting  views  are  still  expressed 
concerning  matters  designated  ''occult"  and  "psych- 
ical," that  it  seems  a  highly  important  duty  to  do  all 
we  can  to  clear  up  mysteries  and  present  our  ripest 
and  most  helpful  thought  to  the  enquiring  multi- 
tude, whatever  may  be  our  special  viewpoint.  One 
cannot  keep  in  any  degree  abreast  with  current 
literature  without  encountering  the  most  extra- 
ordinary ideas  concerning  the  unseen  universe,  the 
mysteries  of  which  the  modern  world,  is  making 
desperate  endeavors  to  unravel.  It  is  all  in  vain,  in 
these  days,  for  religious  teachers  to  tell  the  masses 
that  "secret  things  belong  to  God"  and  we  have, 
therefore,  no  right  to  enquire  into  them,  for  were 
such  a  text  to  be  pushed  to  its  logical  extremity, 
in  the  hands  of  many  theologians  it  would  mean 
putting  an  end  to  all  investigation  and  blindly 
accepting  the  dictum  of  some  pretentious  hierarchy. 
It  was  this  very  attitude  insisted  upon  by  Dr.  Pusey, 
but  repudiated  by  Dean  Stanley,  which  drove  Mrs. 
Annie  Besant  to  Atheism,  from  which  Theosophy 


Preface.  ix 

eventually  rescued  her.  If  we  cannot  believe 
in  the  reality  of  a  Spiritual  Universe  and  at  the 
same  time  use  our  reason,  then  thinkers  must  of 
necessity  take  refuge  in  some  form  of  Agnosticism 
which  can  never  satisfy  the  affection  and  never  per- 
manently content  the  intellect.  If  Bibles  will  not 
bear  examination  then  the  sooner  they  are  consigned 
to  the  limbo  of  desuetude  the  better. — but  if,  as  is 
maintained  in  the  following  ])ages,  we  can  find  much 
that  is  excellent  in  all  of  them,  but  the  whole  of 
truth  in  none,  we  do  well  to  broaden  our  human 
sympathy  by  comparing  Book  with  Book  and 
System  with  System,  to  the  end  that  we  may  at 
length  discover  a  common  religious  and  philo- 
sophical denominator.  Magic  as  well  as  Mystery 
is  dealt  with  in  these  lectures,  chiefly  on  account 
of  the  great  interest  now  prevalent  in  mysterious 
phenomena  and  the  very  misleading  views  in  circu- 
lation concerning  a  topic  which  always  lends  itself 
readily  to  the  exploitation  of  doctrines  calculated  to 
terrify  the  timid  and  support  theories  of  the  Uni- 
verse utterly  incompatible  with  any  sane  and  whole- 
some views  of  life  here  and  hereafter  Ancient  and 
modern  authors  have  been  freely  drawn  upon  to 
illustrate  the  many  subjects  briefly  treated,  and 
many  valuable  works  are  named,  with  the  hope  that 
those  who  read  this  treatise  will  derive  benefit  from 
studying  the  various  questions  herein  outlined  at 
much  greater  detail  if  time  and  opportunity  permit 
and  interest  incite. 

In  my  judgment,  the  chief  benefit  to  be  derived 
from  travel  (and  I  have  traveled  considerably)  is 
the  evidence   it    furnishes   of   the   oneness   of   our 


X  Preface. 

humanity;  and  if  literal  material  travels  contribute 
to  that  important  end,  much  more  do  mental  excur- 
sions into  many  fields  of  diverse  schools  of  Thought 
bring  us  mentally  and  sympathetically  closer  to- 
gether; and  it  is  this  intimate  sense  of  togetherness 
which  must  ultimately  banish  warfare  and  bring  to 
pass  the  fulfilment  of  the  glorious  prophecies 
common  to  all  illumined  prophets,  that  a  day  will 
dawn  when  all  humanity  will  be  so  united  that  tho' 
nations  may  remain  as  distinct  communities,  they 
will  be  in  spirit  completely  unified.  It  is  impossible 
to  predicate  any  ultimate  unification  of  humanity 
on  any  less  exalted  basis  than  that  of  the  essential 
goodness  of  human  nature.  Nothing  keeps  us  apart 
so  completely  as  false  theology,  on  the  one  side,  and 
gross  materialism  on  the  other.  Could  we  once  for 
all  realize  our  common  humanity  vitally,  as  an  in- 
disputable spiritual  reality,  we  could  not  continue  to 
indulge  either  race  or  class  hatred.  Race  and  class 
consciousness  there  may  be,  within  reasonable 
limits,  but  race  and  class  antagonisms  are  inconceiv- 
able if  we  realize  our  oneness.  Speculative  theology 
and  philosophy  which  results  in  no  widening  realiz- 
ation of  human  unity,  may  be  a  scholastic  exercise 
agreeable  to  certain  active  intellects,  but  it  may  well 
be  dismissed  as  a  superfluity  by  practical  philan- 
thropists who  aim  directly  at  benefiting  human 
beings  here  and  now.  One  by  one  the  strongholds 
of  partialism  and  exclusivism  are  being  broken  down 
and  human  unity  is  standing  radiantly  disclosed. 
All  the  pitiable  makeshifts  of  partialist  theology  are 
losing  their  hold  on  the  thinking,  loving,  masses 
who  are  becoming  more  and  more  imbued  with  the 


Preface,  xi 

beauty  and  dignity  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  majestic 
saying,  *'A11  or  None."  This  was  that  noble  eman- 
cipator's answer  to  the  question  put  to  him  by 
narrow-minded  theologues  concerning  his  views  of 
human  ultimate  salvation.  The  stupid  arrogance 
which  imagines  that  some  human  beings  will  be 
finally  blotted  out,  while  others  will  enjoy  everlast- 
ing conscious  blessedness  is  intolerable  in  the  light 
of  all  our  deepest  insight  into  the  unity  of  our 
humanity.  "Pilgrims  of  various  probations,"  as 
Eliza  Pitzinger  calls  us  in  her  magnificent  poem, 
"The  Song  of  the  Soul  Victorious,"  we  may  be,  and 
as  such  it  is  the  privilege  of  the  maturer  to  guide  the 
less  mature,  and  in  the  words  of  Lucy  Larcom  in 
her  exquisite  song,  "Hand  in  Hand  with  Angels," 
we  can  well  go  thro'  life  "clinging  to  the  strong 
ones ;  drawing  up  the  slow."  Nothing  could  be  more 
ridiculous  than  to  claim  that  we  know  all  about  the 
processes  whereby  the  ultimate  glorification  of  the 
entire  human  family  will  be  accomplished,  but,  to 
quote  once  more  from  Eliza  Pitzinger,  "Side  by  side 
we  are  marching  onward,  and  in  time  we  will  all 
agree."  In  dealing  with  ancient  Oriental  Scriptures, 
or  even  with  the  most  recent  works  couched  in  Orien- 
tal phraseology,  we  find  an  abundant  use  of  meta- 
phor; it  seems  therefore  incredible  that  any  even 
slightly  educated  person  to-day  can  experience  any 
very  great  difficulty  in  translating  the  imagery  with 
which  all  Bibles  abound.  "Fire"  is  no  more  to  be 
taken  literally  when  referred  to  as  a  means  for  puri- 
fying souls,  than  "sheep,"  "goats,"  "pieces  of 
money,"  and  a  multitude  of  other  symbolical  ex- 
pressions are  to  be  taken  literally;  but  they  convey 


xii  .    Preface. 

definite  ideas  allegorically,  and  are  quite  readily 
understood  by  all  who  have  even  a  very  small 
accquaintance  with  the  significance  of  similitudes. 
There  is  much  obscurity  in  much  that  is  put  for- 
ward as  modern  revelation,  a  fact  which  by  no 
means  proves  that  there  is  no  truth  in  it,  tho'  it 
cannot  fairly  be  foisted  upon  us  as  absolutely  and 
irrevocably  the  final  word  on  the  subject  of  which 
it  treats.  Deeply  grateful  as  we  ought  to  be  for 
every  gleam  of  light  that  shines  upon  our  mental 
and  moral  pathway,  we  miss  the  purpose  of  our 
educational  experience  directly  we  cease  to  inves- 
tigateclaims  for  ourselves  and  blindly  endorse  the 
dictum  of  another.  My  own  researches  in  the 
Psychical  field,  which  have  been  continuous  from 
my  childhood,  have  convinced  me  that  however  use- 
ful external  phenomena  may  be  in  some  cases,  the 
only  satisfactory  assurance  of  immortality  which 
can  come  to  an  individual — I  mean  an  assurance 
that  nothing  can  possibly  overturn — must  come  thro' 
a  development  of  one's  inherent  ability  to  discern 
spiritual  relatities  spiritually.  The  scientific  world 
owes  it  to  itself  and  to  the  larger  unscientific  world 
outside  to  fearlessly  investigate  all  varieties  of  phe- 
nomena, and  we  have  good  reason  to  predict  that 
present  investigations  will  soon  have  led  to  radical 
changes  in  the  popular  belief  concerning  the  con- 
stitution of  our  universe.  Life  continuous  beyond 
physical  dissolution  is  being  proved  on  every  side 
despite  the  incredulity  of  some  investigators  and  the 
trickery  of  many  mountebanks.  Clairvoyance 
cannot  be  ruled  out  of  court  because  tricks  are 
played  by  greatly  overlauded  ^'mediums,"  nor  can 


Preface.  xiii 

any  mental  phenomenon  be  affected  should  it  be 
proved  that  alleged  physical  phenomena  are  often 
spurious.  We  need  not  be  dismayed  at  anything 
external  if  our  inner  faculties  are  well  developed, 
and  one  of  the  most  hopeful  signs,  of  the  times  is 
that  more  and  more  attention  is  being  given  to 
cultivating  faculties  within  us  ^vhich  we  have 
allowed  to  lie  fallow,  but  which  are  now  asserting 
themselves  with  rapidly  increasing  vigor  and  dis- 
tinctness. Our  horizon  is  not  properly  limited  by 
the  outermost  physical  senses  which  are  all  that 
many  people  imagine  they  possess;  there  are  interior 
faculties  bursting  thro'  and  when  these  shall  have 
made  themselves  more  generally  known  and  hon- 
ored we  shall  have  entered  upon  an  age  of  spiritual 
unfoldment  to  which  the  period  of  doubt  and 
conflict  now  passing  has  surely  led  the  way.  With 
boundless  confidence  in  the  Power  that  makes  for 
righteousness,  and  without  a  doubt  as  to  the  finally 
blessed  outcome  of  all  life's  manifold  and  strange 
experiences,  I  throw  this  book  upon  the  world  trust- 
ing it  will  help  in  some  slight  measure  to  increase 
confidence  in  the  "Divinity  that  shapes  our  ends, 
rough  hew  them  as  we  may." 

W.  J.  COLVILLE. 
May,  1 910. 


ANCIENT  MYSTERIES  AND 
MODERN  REVELATIONS. 


CHAPTER    I.  : 

BIBLES  UNDER  MODERN  SEARCHLIGHT. 

Nothing  can  be  more  evident  than  that  two  dia- 
metrically opposite  mental  tendencies  are  now  figur- 
ing prominently  on  the  intellectual  horizon.  We 
note  everywhere  an  intense  and  sometimes  even 
fanatic  interest  displayed  in  everything  marvelous 
or  mystical  and  at  the  same  time  we  cannot  but  be 
impressed  with  the  distinctly  rationalistic,  often 
amounting  to  an  evidently  agnostic,  trend  of 
thought  in  many  influential  directions.  Modern 
Mysticism  presents  many  curious  aspects,  for  it  is 
undoubtedly  a  strange  compound  of  a  very  ancient 
love  of  the  -marvelous,  for  its  own  sake,  with  the 
truly  modern  scientific  spirit  which  is  satisfied  with 
nothing  less  than  a  critical  and  impartial  investiga- 
tion of  whatever  claims  to  carry  with  it  divine,  or 
indeed  any  superordinary,  authority.  Between 
Mysticism  and  Occultism  the  famous  Dr.  Rudolf 
Steiner  of  Germany,  declares  there  is  this  essential 
difference.     The  Mystic  is  one  who  realizes  truth 

15 


1 6    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

in  some  interior  intuitive  manner,  while  the  Occult- 
ist takes  delight  in  observing  and  producing  extra- 
ordinary phenomena,  by  means  of  which  he  hopes 
to  gain  some  added  insight  into  the  laws  and 
principles  of  the  universe. 

The  sacred  literature  of  all  ages  and  of  all  peoples 
abounds  with  striking  illustrations  that  both  Mystic- 
ism and  Occultism  were  widely  known  and  highly 
prized  from  the  earliest  periods,  concerning  which 
history  informs  us.  The  mystic  element  in  all  Bibles 
may  be  called  truly  religious  in  the  deepest  and  most 
spiritual  meaning  of  the  term ;  while  all  records  of 
miracles  may  be  classed  as  spectacular  occurrences, 
calculated  to  impress  the  minds  of  many  whose 
interior  life  may  have  been  largely  undeveloped, 
while  their  tendency  to  analyze  external  manifesta- 
tions of  any  unusual  sort  may  have  been  quite  as 
keen  as  we  find  it  in  the  case  of  our  most  disting- 
uished modern  scientists.  We  need  always  to 
remember  when  handling  the  complex  problems  of 
biblical  criticism  and  psychical  research  (the  two  are 
far  more  closely  allied  than  many  scholars  seem  to 
imagine)  that  there  are  now  among  us  just  those 
very  same  distinctive  types  of  human  nature  which 
co-existed  in  ages  long  gone  by;  therefore,  while  it 
is  quite  permissable  to  discriminate  between  higher 
and  lower  states  of  mind,  as  well  as  between  differ- 
ing degrees  of  spiriual  and  moral  enlightenment, 
we  need  to  be  extremely  cautious  lest  we  appear  to 
condemn  a  certain  mental  attitude  which  is  positive- 
ly inevitable  in  the  case  of  many  of  our  honorable 
neighbors,  even  though  we  ourselves  may  have  no 
active  sympathy  with  it    We  hear  a  great  deal  in 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     17 

these  days  of  Liberalism  and  of  Modernism,  but  as 
a  rule  those  terms  are  very  loosely  employed ;  the 
former  being  used  quite  blindly  and  indiscrimin- 
ately to  cover  every  conceivable  phase  of  thought 
which  people  choose  to  call  "unorthodox  or  un- 
conventional," while  the  latter  is  applied  in  par- 
ticular to  certain  theological  opinions  which  have 
recently  met  with  papal  condemnation. 

We  need  as  far  as  i>ossible,  within  the  limited 
scope  of  our  literary  endeavors,  to  define  these 
terms  a  little  more  precisely  so  as  to  give  them  a 
much  clearer  and  more  readily  intelligible  standing  in 
our  popular  vocabulary.  By  Liberalism  is  properly 
meant  not  a  destructive  or  simply  lax  philosophy, 
but  a  system  of  thought  which  is  sufficiently  elastic 
to  stretch  without  breaking,  and  also  good-natured 
and  broad-minded  enough  to  see  good  in  many 
systems  of  thought  and  practice,  not  merely  in  those 
to  which  we  ourselves  are  from  some  cause  or  other 
especially  attached.  By  Modernism  we  ought  to 
mean  simply  the  opposite  of  Ancientism,  a  word 
not  yet  often  met  with,  but  one  that  is  capable  of 
rendering  much  valuable  service  in  any  debate  where 
it  is  found  necessary  to  define  clearly  the  modernist 
position.  While  it  would  sound  churlish  to  call  all 
our  intellectual  opponents  illiberal  and  ourselves 
liberal,  no  offense  need  be  taken  if  we  divide  for 
convenience  sake,  into  Ancientists  and  Modernists 
while  discussing  the  most  vital  points  at  issue  be- 
tween debaters  who  need  never  be  belligerents. 
Those  who  take  the  ancient  position  may  well  be 
called  faithful  sticklers  for  certain  vi(nvs  which  have 
been  handed  down  to  them  through  many  gener- 


1 8     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

ations  of  venerated  ancestors,  and  who  are  so  con- 
servative by  intellectual  bent  and  sympathy  that  it 
is  highly  distressing  to  them  to  even  contemplate 
a  change  from  the  positions  which  these  venerated 
ancestors  have,  in  their  opinion,  sanctified.  Mod- 
ernists, on  the  other  hand,  have  no  such  blind  rever- 
ence for  antiquity,  not  because  of  any  lack  of 
affection  and  respect  for  their  progenitors,  but  be- 
cause of  their  intense  conviction  that  days  of  old 
were  no  holier  than  to-day  and  ancient  countries  no 
more  sacred  than  the  lands  we  now  inhabit.  Very 
few  indeed  among  us  probably  go  the  full  length 
in  either  direction,  for  we  almost  invariably  find 
ourselves  at  one  time  led  by  sentiment  to  revere, 
perhaps  unduly,  some  romantic  work  of  old,  while 
at  another  time  we  are  led  by  intellect  to  turn  our 
backs  upon  the  positions  of  our  forefathers  and 
boastfully  declare  that  the  achievements  of  the 
present  day  are  far  greater  than  those  of  any  period 
in  the  past.  Let  us  now  endeavor  to  analyze  quite 
fairly  the  claims  of  antiquity  and  the  claims  of 
modernity  to  our  sympathy  and  love.  Our  affection 
for  the  antique  is  almost  always  based  upon  some 
endearing  associations  with  the  past  that  no  amount 
of  didactic  reasoning  ever  suffices  entirely  to  dispel. 
We  cannot  rationally  analyze  it  any  more  than  we 
can  give  a  satisfactory  analytical  account  of  any 
other  deeply  rooted  sentiment.  Probably  the  best 
account  of  the  great  affection  felt  by  so  very  many 
people  for  the  Bible  is  contained  in  the  beautiful 
song,  "The  Old  Armchair."  "A  Mother  sat  there 
and  that's  why  I  love  it,  that  old  armchair."  The 
singer  goes  on  to  tell  us  that  that  beloved  mother 


i\ncient  Mysteries  and  jNloclern  Revelations.     19 

''turned  from  her  bible  to  bless  her  child."  This  is 
quite  sufficient  to  explain  the  deep  fundamental  hold 
which  the  ancient  Bible  continues  to  exert  over  the 
hearts  and  minds  of  quite  a  multitude  of  distinctly 
liberal  thinkers  who  positively  repudiate  all  attach- 
ment to  traditional  authority.  For  this  reason  the 
subject  of  biblical  criticism  is  one  which  is  necessar- 
ily attended  by  many  sentimental  difficulties  which 
do  not  surround  the  candid  investigation  of  any 
other  literature  in  English  speakir.g  countries;  for 
very  few  of  us  have  any  strongly  sympathetic 
attachment  to  the  Classics  or  to  the  Sacred  Books  of 
the  East  which  the  famous  scholar,  Max  Muller,  so 
finely  edited ;  but  were  we  to  find  ourselves  in  some 
Asiatic  country  the  state  of  thought  would  be  exact- 
ly reversed,  for  there  our  Bible  could  easily  be 
treated  quite  impartially  while  certain  other  Scrip- 
tures which  are  also  made  up  of  divers  elements 
Americans  are  almost  entirely  ignorant,  would  be 
surrounded  with  t]ie  same  sort  of  sentimental  halo 
with  which  we  have  encircled  the  Jewish  and  Chris- 
tian documents.  Whenever  any  one  of  us  can  effec- 
tually dismiss  this  widely  prevailing  sentiment  and 
examine  the  many  distinct  books  which  go  to  make 
up  the  compendious  literature  we  have  long  been 
accustomed  to  designate  Holy  Bible,  we  find  that 
very  much  that  it  contains  is  no  holier,  and  no  less 
holy,  than  important  portions  of  many  other  litera- 
tures w^hich  are  also  made  up  of  divers  elements 
brought  together  no  one  knows  exactly  when  or  how. 
We  need  not  be  either  surprised  or  shocked  to  find 
that  the  same  glorious  ethical  teachings  which  make 
many  portions  of  our  Bible  magnificently  superb 


20     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

are  couched  in  almost  identical  language  with 
equally  high  and  noble  moral  precepts  enunciated 
elsewhere;  nor  need  we  experience  the  least  aston- 
ishment when  we  begin  to  trace  a  subtle  mystical 
element  running  through  all  the  widely  venerated 
Scriptures  of  the  world. 

Let  us  now  endeavor  to  place  ourselves  in  the 
mental  attitude  of  those  who  have  never  seen,  until 
to-day,  the  Sacred  Writings  we  are  properly  called 
upon  to  impartially  examine,  and  let  us  be  perfectly 
straightforward  in  dealing  with  these  ancient  re- 
cords, precisely  as  we  ought  to  deal  with  the  newest 
prose  or  poetry  submitted  for  our  consideration. 
Bible  worshippers  and  Bible  haters  are  alike 
fanatical,  though  their  fanaticism  is  diametrically 
opposed;  for  no  one  can  judge  any  matter  im- 
partially if  he  approaches  the  study  of  it  with  his 
mind  already  made  up  to  either  glorify  it  or  con- 
demn it. 

Whether  the  Bible  can  pass  throi^gh  the  scathing 
ordeal  of  modern  criticism  safely  and  serenely,  may 
not  yet  be  fully  decided,  but  it  may  be  safely  pre- 
dicted that  the  new  aspects  of  criticism  which  are 
rapidly  coming  to  the  front  will  much  more  nearly 
agree  with  ancient  kabbalistical  interpretations  than 
with  the  now  almost  antiquated  iconoclastic  method 
which  was  bound  to  prevail  in  the  tempestuous  days 
of  the  FreHch  Revolution,  when  Voltaire,  Thomas 
Paine,  and  many  other  brilliant  intellectualists  were 
seeking  to  prove  that  bibliolatry  had  long  been  the 
cause  of  an  intellectual  servitude  which  they  felt  it 
to  be  their  special  mission  to  overthrow.  *'The  Age 
of  Reason"  is  a  purely  Deistic  treatise  which  under- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     2i 

takes  to  prove  that  divine  revelation  never  can  de- 
pend upon  either  books  or  priests,  for  Nature  itself 
is  the  revelator  of  God  to  Man,  consequently  we  of 
to-day  have  quite  as  much  opportunity  for  enjoying 
a  divine  revelation  as  had  any  ancient  prophets  who 
lived  under  somewhat  different  conditions  from  our- 
selves. The  works  of  Swedenborg,  which  had  been 
circulated  many  years  before  the  writings  of  Paine 
were  issued,  were  no  more  in  harmony  with  any 
blind  worship  of  the  letter  of  the  Bible  than  were 
the  words  of  Paine,  but  Swedenborg  wrote  from  an 
entirely  different  standpoint,  and  distinctly  claimed 
to  be  a  specially  illuminated  man,  divinely  influ- 
enced to  restore  to  the  world  a  knowledge  of  those 
interior  senses  of  Sacred  Scripture  well  understood 
by  many  peoples  several  thousand  years  ago,  but 
at  the  time  of  his  writings  almost  entirely  unknown 
to  scholarly  theologians  as  well  as  to  the  great 
multitude  of  the  relatively  uninstructed. 

The  modern  Theistic  position,  rendered  popular 
in  New  England  by  Theodore  Parker  in  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  since  then  widely 
accepted  in  nearly  every  section  of  the  globe,  does 
not  differ  radically  from  either  the  rationalistic 
position  on  the  one  hand  or  from  the  mystical  on 
the  other,  provided  that  neither  rationalist  or  mystic 
endeavors  to  set  up  any  particular  man  or  woman, 
or  company  of  men  and  women,  as  infallible 
censors  to  whose  dictation  the  multitude  must  bow. 
Every  consistent  Theist  stoutly  maintains  that  no 
one  has  any  right  to  impose  his  or  her  opinions  upon 
any  other,  seeing  that  no  genuine  human  develop- 
ment is  attainable  apart  from  intellectual  and  moral 


22     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

freedom;  for  if  we  simply  bow  to  the  alleged 
authority  of  others,  be  they  either  ecclesiastics  or 
agnostics,  we  allow  ourselves  to  suffer,  to  a  large 
extent  at  least,  the  loss  of  that  exercise  of  individual 
conscience  and  reason  without  which  any  real 
human  development  is  impossible.  It  is,  of  course, 
quite  true  that  some  people  are  more  highly  enlight- 
ened than  others,  and  are  therefore  quite  capable 
of  functioning  in  the  capacity  of  teachers,  but  no 
arbitrary  dictator  is  really  a  teacher,  because  if  we 
accept  the  say-so  of  another  without  individual 
examination  of  what  that  other  teaches,  we  posi- 
tively learn  nothing,  but  place  ourselves  mentally 
and  morally  in  the  abject  position  of  human  parrots 
or  phonographs.  Now  it  is  often  argued  that  as 
there  have  always  been  Blessed  Masters  upon  the 
earth  who  have  communicated  oracular  teaching  to 
their  special' disciples,  we  can  only  obtain  knowledge 
of  important  truth  regarding  spiritual  matters 
provided  we  accept  the  presumably  authoritative  de- 
liverances of  these  heaven-inspired  oracles,  but  such 
a  statement  is  entirely  ridiculous,  because  if  we 
blindly  accept  something  as  true  which  we  are  quite 
unable  to  understand,  we  accept  it  only  in  an  illusory 
manner,  seeing  that  we  do  not  feel  within  us  any 
vital  response  to  the  outside  appeal;  therefore,  we 
are  only  echoes  and  liable  at  any  time  to  be  switched 
off  our  present  mental  track  and  diverted  into  quite 
a  foreign  channel. 

Whoever  feels  any  real  confidence  in  the  intrinsic 
and  abiding  value  of  the  Bible  must  be  strangely 
inconsistent  if  he  is  afraid  that  a  perfectly  honest 
and  altogether  impartial  examination  of  the  sacred 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     23 

text  can  ever  weaken  its  hold  upon  the  hearts  and 
minds  of  fearless  truthseekers ;  but  if  anyone  secret- 
ly entertains  serious  misgivings  as  to  the  ability  of 
the  Bible  to  withstand  whatever  attacks  may  be 
made  upon  it,  he  surely  confesses  his  own  serious 
doubt  as  to  the  real  sacredness  of  the  Scripture  he 
ostensibly  endeavors  to  uphold. 

The  spirit  of  frank  investigation  is  the  only  spirit 
worthy  of  esteem,  and  whatever  cannot  stand  the 
searchlight  of  such  investigation  as  this  spirit 
necessitates  and  prompts,  must  in  the  nature  of 
things  soon  come  to  be  regarded  as  far  more  of  a 
human  fetish  than  divine  revelation.  It  is  certainly 
true  that  a  superficial  view  of  any  collection  of 
Sacred  Writings  reveals  them  as  of  very  unequal 
value  and  abounding  in  traces  of  the  particular 
errors  common  to  the  places  and  periods  when  and 
where  they  were  produced.  It  is,  however,  quite 
reasonable,  when  taking  into  account  the  circum- 
stances of  their  production,  to  explain  these  seem- 
ing discrepancies  and  traces  of  unreliability  not  so 
much  to  lack  of  wisdom  or  inspiration  on  the  part 
of  the  authors  as  to  the  actual  need  for  appealing 
to  humanity  in  a  language  not  far  removed  from 
the  average  comprehension  of  ordinary  men  and 
women,  while  at  the  same  time  conveying  an  inter- 
ior meaning  to  all  who  can  read  below  the  surface 
by  means  of  the  employment  of  a  system  of  parable 
or  metaphor  which  is,  to  this  very  day,  the  common 
practice  of  all  teachers  in  the  East. 

We  are  now  confronted  with  the  task  of  examin- 
ing the  Hebrew  and  Greek  records  which  constitute 
our  Bible  in  the  light  of  this  twofold  method, — the 


24    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

rationalistic  and  the  mystical, — the  former  having 
reference  to  the  outward  text,  the  latter  to  the  inter- 
ior intention  of  those  who  employed  it  for  the 
express  purpose  of  handing  down  through  succeed- 
ing ages  certain  vital  truths  which  do  not  essentially 
vary,  no  matter  how  widely  outward  circumstances 
may  change. 

Probably  no  intelligent  person  to-day  believes 
that  any  great  moral  purpose  can  be  served  by 
simply  studying  ancient  history  and  committing  to 
memory  the  names  of  certain  patriarchs  whose 
general  character  was  certainly  not  outwardly  in  all 
cases  of  the  highest  stamp.  Then  again  we  have, 
no  definite  assurance  that  any  event  occurred 
exactly  as  it  is  described  in  the  external  narrative. 
But  when  we  come  to  regard  these  personages  and 
incidents  as  far  more  than  simply  historical,  we 
find  them  all  capable  of  conveying  important 
lessons  to  us  to-day.  The  geographical  and  chrono- 
logical elements  in  the  Bible  may  well  be  regarded 
as  extremely  doubtful,  but  only  in  the  sense  that  we 
need  not  look  for  local  and  historical  exactitude  in 
a  great  novel,  a  mighty  poem  or  an  elevating  play, 
into  which  the  names  of  certain  persons  and  places 
have  been  freely  introduced,  but  chiefly  with 
dramatic  motive — i.  e.,  for  the  sake  of  making  the 
teaching  conveyed  stand  out  boldly  before  the  eye 
of  the  reader  or  the  ear  of  the  listener  as  it  could 
not  stand  were  it  not  for  this  vivid  external  drap- 
ery. When  we  read  Shakespeare  we  need  not  care 
whether  Hamlet,  Prince  of  Denmark,  or  Timon  of 
Athens  were  or  were  not  actual  historical  persons. 
Somebody  lived  in  Denmark  and  somebody  lived 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     25 

in  Greece  during  those  periods  to  which  the  plays 
incidentally  refer,  but  the  object  of  these  great 
dramas  is  certainly  widely  different  from  that  of  a 
school  history,  the  avowed  object  of  which  is  simply 
to  acquaint  the  students  with  what  actually  occurred 
in  certain  countries  at  certain  times. 

All  history  is  valuable  provided  we  learn  the 
lesson  that  it  is  capable  of  conveying  to  us;  but  the 
distinctive  value  of  a  work  of  art,  written  with  the 
sole  intention  of  embodying  important  moral  teach- 
ing in  attractive  outward  form,  is  far  higher  than 
that  of  any  work  which  is  undertaken  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  historian  simply. 

We  are  all  familiar  to-day  with  the  extreme 
doubt  which  is  often  expressed  in  learned  circles 
concerning  the  authorship  of  every  great  literary 
classic.  The  plays  of  Shakespeare  have  been  attrib- 
uted to  Bacon,  while  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey  of  Homer 
have  often  been  tentatively  referred  to  imknown 
authorship,  but  no  caviling  as  to  authorship  can  ever 
detract  one  iota  from  tlie  intrinsic  merit  of  the 
suublime  poetry  thus  skeptically  dealt  with,  for  it 
does  not  make  any  real  difference  to  us  to  know  or 
not  to  know  who  wrote  a  certain  book  or  when  or 
where  it  was  written,  seeing  that  the  only  great 
value  of  any  literary  production,  which  aims  at  ele- 
vating the  moral  tone  of  humanity,  consists  in  the 
appeal  it  makes  to  our  inherent  moral  instincts, 
which  can  usually  be  reached  by  fear  if  we  are  in  an 
undeveloped  and  almost  savage  mental  condition, 
but  only  by  veneration  and  love  if  we  are  more 
highly  evolved  intellectually. 

It  is  now  not  uncommon  to  find  gifted  teachers  of 


26     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

mental  science  and  moral  philosophy  entirely  ignor- 
ing the  simply  historical  elements  in  ancient 
Scriptures  during  the  course  of  Bible  lessons,  which 
they  deliver  with  the  one  intention  of  aiding  their 
students  to  overcome  diverse  limitations  and  prove 
themselves  superior  to  the  weaknesses  and  tempta- 
tions which  surround  us  in  the  modern  world.  We 
need  not  wonder  that  this  method  of  teaching  is 
sometimes  looked  upon  by  rationalists  as  unwar- 
ranted and  by  extreme  conservatives  as  heretical, 
but  a  little  sober  thinking  will  soon  convince  us  that 
we  have  all  a  perfect  right  to  make  the  most  prac- 
tical use  we  possibly  can  of  the  world's  most  widely 
circulating  religious  literature.  Nothing  can  be 
further  from  the  truth  than  to  declare  that  the 
Bible  in  these  days  is  not  read  as  much  as  formerly, 
though  it  is  certainly  the  case  that  it  is  not  read  so 
exclusively,  and  it  is  being  read  far  more  critically. 
Thi^  change  of  attitude  toward  the  venerable  book 
is  quite  inevitable  when  we  take  into  account  the 
enormous  literary  output  of  the  present  day  and  the 
resolute  determination  on  the  part  of  modern 
scholars  to  ventilate  as  widely  as  possible  the  results 
of  recent  criticism.  We  can  quite  sympathize  with 
all  persons  who  object  to  the  Bible  being  read  in 
public  schools  as  a  book  entirely  different  from  all 
other  books,  alleged  to  contain  a  divine  revelation 
which  no  other  literature  can  hold,  for  such  a  claim 
for  a  particular  volume  is  clearly  an  attempt  on  the 
part  of  Bible  worshipers  to  compel  many  of  their 
fellow-citizens  who  do  not  share  their  views  to 
submit  the  whole  of  the  rising  generation  to  a  kind 
of  course  in  dogmatic  theology,  which  while  it  may 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     27 

meet  with  the  complete  approval  of  some  parents 
and  guardians,  is  thoroughly  distasteful  to  others 
Were  the  Bible  placed J|pn  ^  ^evel  with  other 
avowedly  Sacred  Books^nc''^^  Aed  with  honest 
impartiality,  there  could  be  ncr  objection  to  select- 
ing from  it  for  school  reading  many  noble  passages, 
but  the  volume  as  a  whole  is  far  too  obscure  in  many 
places,  and  it  also  deals  with  too  many  subjects  unfit 
to  be  discussed  by  children  of  school  age,  to  be 
placed  in  their  hands  either  as  a  complete  divine 
revelation  or  as  a  standard  text  book  of  faith  and 
morals  which  they  are  expected  to  peruse  from 
Genesis  to  Revelation.  We  know  well  enough  that 
there  are  very  many  beautiful  stories  in  the  Bible 
which  are  well  adapted  to  childish  comprehension, 
and  which  by  their  dramatic  intensity  make  a  strong 
and  altogether  salutary  appeal  to  juvenile  imagin- 
ation. Such  tales  could  profitably  be  included  in  a 
judiciously  compiled  selection  from  many  venerable 
writings  where  they  would  stand  side  by  side  with 
similar  stories  taken  from  other  Scriptures:  But 
admirable  though  such  a  selection  from  the  various 
Sacred  Books  of  the  world  might  be,  such  a  volume 
could  never  receive  the  sanction  of  those  exclusiv- 
ists  who  have  set  their  faces  determinedly  against 
the  study  of  comparative  religion,  unless  it  be  so 
conducted  as  to  put  their  own  system  in  the  most 
favorable  light  possible,  while  all  other  systems  must 
be  relegated  to  the  shades  of  at  least  semi-darkness 

When  it  was  seriously  proposed  to  Mrs.  Annie 
Besant  that  she  should  compile  such  a  book  as  we 
are  now  advocating,  she  very  frankly  informed  her 
friends  that  she  could  compile  it  without  much  diffi- 


28     Ancient  Mysteries  and^  Modern  Revelations. 

culty,  but  she  saw  liftle  chance  of  its  being  accepted 
after  she  had  written  it,  in  those  particular  places 
into  which  her  frcnch'-w^e  most  desirous  of  intro- 
ducing it.  Anytjie  red^^an  or  woman  who  has 
traveled  widely  afid  Studied  deeply  might  gather 
together,  without  any  onerous  labor,  a  large  amount 
of  valuable  matter  from  the  immense  bulk  of  the 
world's  sacred  literature,  and  a  very  great  good 
service  could  be  rendered  thereby  to  the  cause  of 
mutual  understanding  between  the  representatives 
of  different  religious  systems,  but  though  such  a 
result  after  its  accomplishment  could  only  be  bene- 
ficial in  the  long  run,  it  could  not  be  brought  about 
at  present  on  any  extended  scale  without  arousing 
ferocious  controversy,  by  reason  of  the  enthusiastic 
self-conceit  which  we  find  manifested  by  pro- 
fessedly orthodox  advocates  of  every  religious 
system  beneath  the  sun.  Nothing  seems  more  diffi- 
cult than  for  those  who  profess  to  admire  and  fully 
accept  the  most  exquisite  portions  of  their  own 
beloved  Bible  to  act  as  though  its  finest  inculcations 
were  really  true,  for  if  they  would  but  admit  what 
their  greatest  prophets  and  apostles  have  clearly 
stated,  they  would  immediately  consent  to  trace 
divine  revelation  impartially  through  the  myriad 
channels  along  which  it  has  been  flowing  without 
cessation  through  all  the  ages.  Could  we  all  agree 
to  dispense  entirely  with  both  jealousy  and  prejudice 
it  would  not  be  long  before  we  could  all  unite  to 
form  a  worldwide  Study  Class,  in  which  all  vener- 
ated Scriptures  could  be  employed  and  quoted  side 
by  side  in  such  a  manner  as  to  greatly  and  quickly 
help  forward  that  mighty  spiritual  movement  look- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     29 

ing  toward  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of 
universal  Peace  which  we  are  assured  by  all  true 
Theosophists,  and  all  other  workers  for  the  unifi- 
cation of  humanity,  is  the  one  movement  beyond 
all  others  most  calculated  to  enable  all  of  us  to 
practically  realize  the  divine  origin  and  constitution 
of  our  common  humanity. 

Nothing  can  surely  be  more  detrimental  to  the 
interests  of  universal  peace  than  an  arrogant  belief 
that  some  one  nation  has  been  appointed  sole  cus- 
todian of  celestial  verities,  for  such  a  claim  made 
by  any  body  of  people  inevitably  inclines  them  to 
an  overweening  sense  of  their  own  importance 
coupled  with  a  more  or  less  contemptuous  attitude 
toward  alKthe  rest  of  humanity.  "Poor  benighted 
heathen,"  is  a  phrase  we  often  hear  at  missionary 
meetings,  not  simply  applied  to  certain  benighted 
elements  in  any  given  population,  but  indiscrimin- 
ately used  to  designate  all  non-christian  peoples 
regardless  of  their  intelligence  or  moral  excellence. 
The  only  reason  given  for  speaking  of  them  thus 
is  because  they  have  never  seen  our  Bible,  or 
accepted  our  particular  views  of  religion,  though 
in  many  cases  they  have  actually  embraced  the 
identical  teachings  which  we  frequently  declare  are 
the  crowning  glory  of  our  vastly  superior  civiliza- 
tion. Were  we  to  really  understand  the  Scriptures 
of  those  so-called  "heathen"  nations,  we  should  find 
in  them  very  much  to  admire,  though  also  much  to 
criticize,  but  were  they  fairly  examined  we  should 
soon  discover  that  their  worst  passages  are  no  worse 
than  the  worst  in  our  own  Bible,  and  even  those  are 
not  bad  at  all  if  we  regard  them  as  containing  some 


30     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

interior  meaning  which  lies  far  below  the  surface 
of  their  letter.  No  intelligent  person  can  possibly 
believe  that  any  true  God  ever  told  people  through 
any  instrumentality  whatever  to  slaughter  hosts  of 
innocent  women  and  children;  therefore,  whenever 
we  read  that  such  commands  were  given  from  God, 
we  may  be  quite  sure  either  that  the  record  is  false 
or  that  it  is  conveyed  in  mystical  language.  We 
can  accept  which  alternative  we  please,  provided  we 
adopt  the  same  method  of  interpretation  when  deal- 
ing with  various  records ;  but  in  no  case  can  we  have 
the  right  to  assume  that  what  is  right  when  contained 
in  one  Bible  is  wrong  when  found  in  another. 
Bibles  in  all  cases  possess  some  amazing  element  of 
vitality  which  has  enabled  them  so  far  t©  withstand 
all  the  censure  which  has  been  brought  against  them 
that  they  go  on  living  despite  all  efforts  made  to 
crush  them.  This  may  be  due  to  the  simple  fact 
that  they  contain  so  much  truth,  intermingled  with 
a  large  amount  of  error,  that  that  truth  keeps  them 
alive  while  the  error  has  a  tendency  to  work  their 
destruction,  or  we  may  go  so  far  as  to  believe  that 
in  all  cases  they  are  portions  of  some  great  uni- 
versal literature  which  owes  its  value,  as  well  as  its 
enduring  character,  to  the  spiritual  element  which 
is  its  permanent  soul,  and  which  enjoys  immortal 
life  though  outward  bodies  may  be  far  from  cap- 
able of  enduring  everlastingly. 

Whichever  view  we  take  we  must  be  extremely 
careful  not  to  indulge  in  any  special  pleading  for 
our  own  Bible,  while  holding  up  to  scorn  or  ridicule 
the  equally  venerated  Scriptures  of  hundreds  of 
millions  of  our  fellow  beings;  and  when  we  come 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     31 

to  deal  with  the  subject  of  idolatry  we  must  again 
be  equally  careful  to  avoid  the  very  common  error 
of  declaring  that  our  own  images  represent  certain 
spiritual  truths,  and  are  only  regarded  by  those 
who  honor  them  as  emblems  or  symbols,  while  we 
most  unjustly  infer  that  other  images  in  other  parts 
of  the  world  are  actually  "false  gods"  of  wood  and 
stone  which  the  "wretched  heathen"  worship  be- 
cause they  are  destitute  of  all  genuine  spiritual 
illumination.  It  is  quite  pardonable  that  Europeans 
and  Americans  should,  for  the  most  part,  be  largely 
ignorant  of  Oriental  faith  and  worship,  but  if  that 
be  so,  surely  some  becoming  modesty  should  be 
exercised  and  we  should  refrain  from  passing  judg- 
ment where  our  knowledge  is  so  extremely  small. 
We  need  not  claim  to  endorse  or  advocate  doctrines 
and  practices  with  which  we  are  unfamiliar,  but  we 
may  well  be  reticent  concerning  them,  and  were  a 
wise  reticence  generalyy  observed,  we  should  enjoy 
the  advantage  of  a  total  absence  of  all  ill-feeling 
toward  our  Asiatic  neighbors  and  we  should  also  be 
quite  open  to  learn  from  them  as  they  may  also  be 
open  to  learn  from  us  concerning  spiritual  realities. 


CHAPTER    II. 

RIVERS  OF  UFE  OR  FAITHS  OF  MAN  IN  ALL  LANDS. 

A  very  remarkable  Chart,  intended  to  describe 
the  progress  of  rehgious  ideas  and  varying  forms 
of  worship  among  all  nations,  was  long  ago  issued 
by  Major  General  Forlong,  by  means  of  which  he 
traced  out  with  considerable  clearness  what  he  be- 
lieved to  be  the  stream  of  human  religious  progress 
from  as  far  back  as  10,000  B.  C.  The  earliest  forms 
of  worship  included  the  Tree  and  the  Serpent  as 
objects  of  world-wide  veneration,  and  with  these 
emblems  were  associated  all  the  symbols  connected 
with  Phallic  worship.  It  is  quite  easy  to  trace  in 
these  primitive  and  wide-spread  emblems  the  natural 
tendency  of  humanity  to  deify  all  those  agencies 
through  which  the  stream  of  life  is  constantly  flow- 
ing from  some  mysterious  unseen  fountain-head 
into  manifold  manifest  exterior  expressions.  Ac- 
cording to  Forlong's  calculations  the  worship  of 
Fire  somewhat  preceded  the  adoration  of  the  sun, 
and  these  two  forms  of  closely  related  worship  he 
traces  back  to  about  6,000  B.  C.  Regarding  the 
chart  carefully  we  soon  become  familiar  with  many 
interblending  lines  showing  how  Sun  worship, 
Tree  worship  and  Serpent  worship  were  so  inter- 
blended  as  to  have  been  well-nigh,  if  not  entirely, 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     33 

inseparable.  Ancestor  worship,  according  to  this 
reckoning,  dates  back  only  to  about  3,500  B.  C , 
and  seems  to  have  immediately  followed  the  more 
ancient  Egyptian  Sacred  Ritual  which  paid  special 
homage  to  all  phases  of  creative  fertility.  Moun- 
tain worship  is  still  more  recent  and  is  said  to  have 
prevailed  everywhere  at  the  time  assigned  by  Jewish 
tradition  to  the  giving  of  the  Law  from  Sinai,  and 
immediately  after  that  period  Animal  worship  be- 
came everywhere  prevalent.  This  seems  to  be  in 
strict  accord  with  the  narrative  in  Exodus  which  in- 
forms us  that  the  people  worshiped  the  golden  calf 
after  the  Law  had  been  revealed  to  them  from  the 
mountain  top,  and  we  may  also  well  believe  that 
the  sacredness  of  mountains  appealed  especially  to 
men  of  prophetic  type,  while  animal  worship  was 
the  common  practice  of  the  unenlightened.  We  can 
never  entirely  get  away  from  these  forms  of 
worship  which  grow  up  instinctively  and  are  there- 
fore no  more  artificial  products  than  are  any  other 
spontaneous  natural  productions.  We  have  all  some 
instinct  of  veneration  within  us  which  in  its  earlier 
and  less  refined  condition  is  sure  to  lead  us  to  pay 
extravagant  homage  to  those  external  objects  which 
most  naturally  and  powerfully  seize  hold  upon  our 
imagination  and  cause  us,  by  their  unique  impress- 
iveness,  to  regard  them  as  divine  agents  in  more 
than  ordinary  degree. 

This  consideration  alone  may  lead  us  far  on  the 
highly  desirable  road  of  kindly  consideration  for 
the  many  aspects  of  faith  and  forms  of  worship 
which  have  survived -unto  this  day,  and  which  seem- 
ingly  satisfy,    in   some   considerable   measure,    the 


34     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

religious  aspirations  of  multitudes  of  our  contem- 
poraries. Though  the  very  highest  idea  of  Deity 
which  the  human  mind  seems  capable  of  entertaining 
is  well  expressed  in  the  majestic  words  ''God  is 
Spirit  and  they  who  worship  Him  must  worship 
Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth,"  what  constitutes  spirit, 
and  how  spiritual  worship  may  be  offered,  is  not 
usually  very  clear  to  the  average  intellect,  hence  men 
have  always  devised  some  concrete  figures  which 
they  have  placed  before  them,  not  intending  thereby 
to  represent  Deity  in  fullness,  but  only  to  assist  them 
in  concentrating  their  attention  upon  some  venerated 
object  which  to  their  minds  clothes  or  embodies 
at  least  some  special  divine  attribute  which  they 
most  admire  and  which  they  most  desire  to  share. 
Modern  scholarship  universally  inclines  to  an 
acceptance  of  the  thoroughly  reasonable  proposition 
that  beyond  all  localized  and  limited  divinities  the 
great  nations  of  antiquity  acknowledged  and  vener- 
ated one  Supreme  Being  whose  attributes  were 
.variously  embodied  in  multitudes  of  subordinate 
divinities,  and  though  it  is  the  proud  boast  of  the 
most  advanced  nations  in  the  modern  world  that 
they  acknowledge  only  one  God  as  the  proper  object 
of  human  worship,  we  can  hardly  fail  to  recognize 
a  very  definite  continuation  of  ancient  Paganism 
in  modern  Christianity.  By  this  declaration  we  are 
not  intending  to  infer  anything  disrespectful  to  the 
Christian  system,  though  we  cannot  admit  that  in 
its  present  form  it  is  other  than  hybrid.  Primitive 
Christianity  may  have  originated  with  some  definite 
determination  on  the  part  of  a  few  intensely  zealous 
men  and  women  to  carry  into  effect  the  exact  teach- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     35 

ings  of  a  great  Master  whom  they  desired  implicitly 
to  follow,  but  no  student  of  Christian  history  can 
fail  to  note  that  very  soon  indeed  the  early  Church 
began  to  associate  itself  with  the  civil  power  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  and  from  the  moment  it  did  so  it 
must  have  ceased  to  preserve,  even  in  semblance,  its 
primitive  simplicity.  All  the  great  religions  of  the 
world  appear  to  have  originated  with  some  great 
inspiration  received  through  some  illustrious 
Founder,  whose  followers  very  soon  began  to  drift 
away  from  the  primal  purity  of  the  system  estab- 
lished by  the  Founder,  and  in  so  doing  they  invari- 
ably committed  themselves  to  an  endorsement  of 
prevailing  ideas  and  customs,  which  had  already 
taken  so  firm  a  hold  upon  the  minds  of  the  great 
bulk  of  the  populace  where  the  new  religion  was 
introduced,  that  a  formulated  system  soon  grew  up 
and  flourished  which  was  a  compromise  between 
the  new  revelation  and  the  older  hierarchy.  We 
can  readily  see  traces  of  this  blending  of  new  and 
old  in  every  Bible  we  may  be  called  upon  to  study, 
and  the  fact  of  its  universality  should  dispose  us  to 
take  a  kindly  as  well  as  a  rational  view  alike  of  its 
origin  and  purpose.  Though  worship  of  external 
objects,  no  matter  how  majestic  and  sublime,  must 
be  ultimately  superseded  by  a  purely  spiritual  form 
of  adoration,  we  can  clearly  see  that  in  the  course 
of  human  conscious  evolution  lower  concepts  of 
Deity  must  of  necessity  precede  higher  ones,  and  for 
this  reason  we  should  be  ever  ready  to  put  the  most 
favorable  construction  possible  upon  ancient  and 
modern  religious  beliefs  and  usages  alike.  It  is  a 
great,  though  a  very  common,  error  to  suppose  that 


36      Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

so  eminently  rational  and  charitable  a  view  means 
indifference  to  all  essentials  of  faith  or  doctrine, 
for  such  is  surely  not  the  case.  The  most  thor- 
oughly sympathetic  view  of  all  religious  systems 
is  the  one  always  taken  by  the  most  thoroughly 
devout  and  conscientious  upholders  of  those  essen- 
tial and  fundamental  verities,  which  an  impartial 
investigation  of  Comparative  Religion  can  only 
serve  to  endear  more  and  more  to  the  hearts  and 
minds  of  all  who  are  liberal  and  intelligent  enough 
to  appreciate,  in  some  vital  manner,  the  splendid 
words  attributed  to  the  Apostle  Paul,  "GOD  has 
never  left  Himself  without  witness."  As  we  trace 
the  widely  spreading  boughs  of  Forlong's  imaginary 
tree,  and  seek  to  appreciate  the  manifest  significance 
of  its  widely  ramifying  branches,  we  cannot  fail  to 
note  how  many  strange  beliefs  and  practices  are 
often  marvellously  interlinked.  Human  progress  in 
civilization  seems  always  to  have  proceeded  along  a 
circuitous  path;  never  does  it  seem  to  have  gone 
straight  forward.  This  fact  must  be  well  digested 
before  we  can  possibly  estimate  truly  the  career  of 
religious  ideas  and  ceremonies  through  centuries 
and  milleniums.  It  has  long  been  a  gross  mistake, 
and  a  fatal  error,  to  suppose  that  one  religious 
system  has  necessarily  borrowed  from  another  be- 
cause we  can  trace  extremely  close  resemblances  in 
many  instances  between  one  system  and  another. 
This  close  relationship  both  in  doctrine  and  cere- 
monial by  no  means  necessarily  proves  anything 
more  or  other  than  that  different  peoples  in  differ- 
ent countries  may  have  simulanteously  reached  an 
almost  identical  altitude  of  mental,  moral,  and  spirit- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     37 

ual  attainment.  It  is  clearly  evident  that  between 
five  and  six  centuries  prior  to  the  commencement  of 
the  Christian  Dispensation  a  mighty  spiritual,  intel- 
lectual and  moral  wave  of  inspiration  and  illumina- 
tion was  sweeping  voluminously  over  the  Earth,  lav- 
ing Europe,  Asia,  and  the  Northern  Coast  of  Africa 
with  its  effulgence.  Then  were  the  days  of  the 
latest  of  the  Buddhas  in  India,  of  Confucius,  the 
eminent  moral  philosopher,  and  of  Laotze,  the  pro- 
found Mystic,  in  China;  also  of  the  greatest  of  the 
Philosophers  in  Greece.  How  came  it  about,  we 
may  well  enquire,  that  so  many  illustrious  lights 
were  shining  contemporaneously  in  different  sec- 
tions of  the  world?  Surely  there  are  mental, 
moral,  and  spiritual  tides  in  the  history  of  Human- 
ity which  have  their  periodic  ebb  and  flow  as  surely 
as  have  the  tides  of  oceans,  which  most  of  us  have 
learned  to  trace.  To  ascertain  the  cause  and 
periodicity  of  these  mysterious  Psychic  Tidal 
Waves  may  yet  be  well  within  our  average  power, 
but  up  to  the  present  the  ability  to  do  this  has  been 
claimed  as  an  exclusive  possession  of  certain  highly 
trained  or  well  developed  Adepts  or  Initiates,  who 
can  peer  within  the  veil  of  mystery  which  has  for 
ages  shrouded  the  inner  sanctuaries  from  the  gaze 
of  all  the  uninitiated.  A  mighty  question  .is  now 
agitating  the  minds  of  rapidly  increasing  multitudes, 
viz.,  Has  the  time  now  come  for  the  great  unveiling 
long  predicted,  and  eagerly  anticipated  by  enquiring 
throngs  to-day?  The  signs  are  manifold,  and 
they  are  rapidly  accumulating,  that  we  are  on  the 
immediate  verge  of  a  new  Cycle  in  human  history. 
To  quote  the  language  of  Forlong,  "There  may  be 


38     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

observed  from  the  synchronizing  of  the  history  of 
faiths  a  remarkable  tidal  wave  of  intensity  which 
seems  to  acutely  affect  the  race  physically  and  ment- 
ally and  with  remarkable  regularity  every  six  hun- 
dred to  six  hundred  and  fifty  years,  reminding  us  of 
the  Sothic  and  other  cycles,  but  especially  of  the 
mystical  phoenix  or  Solar  eras  of  Egypt  and  the 
East.  The  ebb  and  flow  of  this  tide  is  shown  on  the 
chart  by  light  broad  bands  embracing  a  width  of  one 
hundred  years." 

With  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  we  notice 
a  determined  effort  to  unify,  as  far  as  possible, 
every  system  older  than  Christianity.  This  tend- 
ency is  so  familiar  to  all  students  of  the  Fathers 
of  the  early  Church,  that  it  seems  almost  incredible 
that  any  graduate  from  a  well  equipped  divinity 
college  can  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  what  he  has 
been  taught  to  call  Christianity  is  both  a  compound 
and  a  continuation  of  many  ancient  faiths  and  cere- 
monies; but  though  this  is  unmistakably  the  case 
we  are  not  thereby  justified  in  characterizing 
Christianity  or  the  New  Testament  as  in  any  sense 
fraudulent,  though  that  serious  charge  is  often 
brought  by  vigorous  iconoclasts,  who  can  readily 
trace  existing  parallels  but  seem  unable  to  interpret 
their  real  significance.  The  publishers  of  Forlong's 
chart  were  very  careful  to  publish  in  connection 
with  it  the  thoroughly  truthful  statement  that  it  is 
neither  orthodox  or  heterodox  but  simply  chrono- 
logical, therefore  suitable  for  general  use  in  all 
schools  where  classics  are  taught;  but  though  it  is 
simply  historical  in  its  manifest  design,  no  one  who 
peruses  it  thoughtfully  can  fail  to  trace  its  distinctly 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     39 

universal  implications.  Its  chief  object  is  pro- 
fessedly to  exhibit  a  gradual  evolution  of  ideas  from 
rude  material  and  elemental  symbolism  to  abstract 
spiritual  conceptions.  Several  colors  are  employed, 
each  one  denoting  some  great  leading  idea  which, 
though  long  continuing,  tends  to  diverge  and  at 
length  become  lost  in  some  wider  common  stream. 
The  streams  are  called  merely  ''Lines  of  Thought," 
neither  national  nor  ethnographical  in  their  arrange- 
ment, for  certain  streams  of  tendency  are  steadfast 
while  all  religious  systems  are  progressive,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  fact  that  human  nature  progresses 
and  one  generation  of  men  and  women  will  inevit- 
ably put  some  new  construction  upon  doctrines  and 
ceremonies  alike,  by  no  means  in  strict  accordance 
with  the  views  taken  by  their  predecessors  in  the 
same  communion. 

We  are  altogether  too  much  inclined  to  speak  of 
people  as  Jews,  Christians,  or  Mohammedans,  as 
though  such  broad  designations  completely  describe 
as  well  as  effectively  label  them ;  but  such  a  mistaken 
inference  can  never  hold  sway  over  the  minds  of 
soberly  thoughtful  people,  seeing  that  nothing  can 
be  more  self  evident  than  that  there  are  as  many 
varieties  of  Judaism,  Christianity,  and  Mohammed- 
ism,  for  example,  as  there  are  distinctive  types  of 
people  professing  each  of  these  varied  systems  of 
religious  thought  and  practice. 

We  are  often  apt  to  think  that  should  we  travel 
in  Eastern  Asia  and  mingle  freely  with  Brahmins, 
Buddhists  and  Parsees,  we  should  find  certain  rigid 
kinds  of  people  professing  certain  definite  doctrines 
and  observing  certain  ancient  and  unvarying  cere- 


40     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

monies  with  scarcely  anything  to  distinguish  one 
individual  from  another  among  professors  of  a 
certain  creed.  This  might  prove  true,  to  some  ex- 
tent at  least,  were  we  to  associate  exclusively  with 
the  uneducated  and  largely  unthinking  rank  and  file 
of  some  specific  population,  but  should  we  enlarge 
the  scope  of  our  acquaintance,  till  it  included  the' 
best  educated  and  most  highly  representative  mem- 
bers of  any  Oriental  community,  we  should  soon  dis- 
cover quite  as  wide  a  dissimilarity  of  thought  and 
practice  as  we  are  ever  likely  to  encounter  in  the 
West.  That  fertile  author,  James  Freeman  Clarke, 
whose  splendid  text  book,  ''Ten  Great  Religions,"  is 
a  most  valuable  mine  of  rich  historical  information, 
often  took  occasion  to  remind  his  hearers,  in  the 
course  of  his  always  instructive  sermons,  that  we 
greatly  need  to  remember  that  though  institutions 
seemingly  remain  permanent,  with  their  confessions 
of  faith  unchanged  and  their  ceremony  unaltered, 
yet  because  the  living  members  of  those  institutions 
are  not  the  men  and  women  of  past  centuries,  we 
have  no  right  or  reason  to  expect  that  the  personal 
conduct  of  any  body  of  people  to-day  will  necessar- 
ily be  identical  with  the  behavior  of  the  men  and 
women  who  bore  the  same  distinctive  titles  in  the 
past.  This  is,  of  course,  self -evidently  true,  but  as 
every  organization  extant  to-day  contains  many 
widely  diversified  elements,  so  was  it  in  even  the 
distant  past;  consequently  the  more  thoroughly  we 
study  history  the  more  clearly  convinced  do  we 
become  that  there  never  was  a  timer  when  all  the 
professors  of  a  distinctive  creed  came  up  to  a  uni- 
form standard  of  either  intellectuality  or  morality. 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     41 

Quite  recently  the  beatification  of  Jeanne  D'Arc, 
the  Maid  of  Orleans,  by  the  Church  of  Rome  has 
called  much  attention  to  two  distinctly  separate 
aspects  of  the  attitude  of  that  Church  to  the  heroic 
girl  who  was  indeed  a  deliverer  of  France,  and  then 
a  Martyr  through  the  perfidy  of  the  very  King  and 
his  attendants  who  owed  their  exaltation  and  their 
safety  to  the  brave  inspired  damsel  without  whose 
valiant  leadership  the  French  Army  of  that  period 
could  never  have  been  victorious. 

We  often  hear  it  said  that  the  Church  burnt  this 
maiden  as  a  witch  a  few  hundred  years  ago  and  now 
enthrones  her  statue  above  its  altars  as  an  object  of 
veneration  for  the  faithful,  while  priests  call  upon 
their  people  to  invoke  the  intercession  of  the  very 
girl  who  was  so  bitterly  denounced  and  cruelly 
masacred  in  a  by-gone  century.  This  statement  is 
by  no  means  altogether  true,  for  while  it  may  be 
a  historic  fact  that  those  particular  persons  who  put 
the  maiden  to  death  professed  the  Roman  Catholic 
faith,  we  cannot  learn  from  any  reliable  historian 
that  the  high  dignitaries  of  the  Church  as  a  whole 
were  in  any  way  concerned  with  her  unjust  martyr- 
dom. Personal  jealousy  and  other  equally  base 
motives  animating  the  corrupt  minds  of  certain 
men  in  authority  at  the  time  of  her  condemnation, 
were  the  direct  external  causes  of  the  unjust 
sentence  passed  upon  her;  it  is  not  therefore  true 
to  relate  that  a  great  Church  as  a  whole  condemned 
the  Maid  of  Orleans  in  one  century  and  canonized 
her  in  another,  but  it  is  a  fact  that  the  general 
temper  of  these  times  is  less  barbaric  than  that  of 
four  or  five  hundred  years  ago.     Yet  even  now  it 


42     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

does  not  seem  impossible  that  harsh  injustice  might 
be  meted  out  to  some  modern  deliverer  of  France, 
or  any  other  land,  were  corrupt  men  to  be  in  power 
and  in  a  position  to  cast  a  deciding  vote  as  to  the 
fate  of  a  new  emancipator. 

We  can  all  understand  what  Felix  Adler,  Presi- 
dent of  the  New  York  Society  for  Ethical  Culture, 
meant  when  he  gave  a  book  the  title  of  ''Deed  vs. 
Creed,"  though  that  saying  cannot  always  be  en- 
dorsed at  its  full  face  value.  What  Dr.  Adler 
clearly  intended  to  convey  was  that  good  deeds  can 
be  performed  regardless  of  creed,  and  any  sort  of 
creed  can  be  intellectually  maintained  regardless  of 
the  behavior  of  its  advocates.  We  sometimes  hear 
it  said  that  it  is  of  no  consequence  what  we  believe 
provided  we  live  good  lives;  this  is  a  very  shrewd 
saying  requiring  very  close  examination,  by  reason 
of  the  fact  that  it  seems  to  contain  a  sort  of  catch 
which,  however,  we  soon  discover  when  we  pene- 
trate below  the  surface  of  its  obvious  letter.  Much 
good  was  undoubtedly  done  some  years  ago  through 
the  columns  of  the  London  Daily  Telegraph  by  the 
publication  day  after  day,  for  several  months,  of 
numerous  letters  from  all  conceivable  varieties  of 
scribes  in  answer  to  the  query,  Do  we  Believe?  "Of 
course  we  all  believe  something,"  is  the  only  possible 
general  answer  which  can  be  given  to  this  question, 
but  two  other  inquiries  directly  follow  it,  What  do 
we  Believe?  and.  Why  do  we  Believe  what  we 
Believe?  to  which  a  third  may  be  added,  What 
Influence  does  our  Belief  exert  over  our  Conduct? 
To  answer  these  four  queries,  not  merely  to  discuss 
the  first  in  the  series,  must  be  the  work  of  the 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     43 

philosophic  student,  and  it  will  surely  not  take  us 
very  long  to  make  the  uncomplimentary  discovery 
that  our  average  beliefs  are  largely  due  to  nothing 
else  than  blind  unreasoning  compliance  with  ac- 
cepted notions  entertained  by  a  large  majority  of 
persons  among  whom  we  have  been  brought  up. 
Such  beliefs  cannot  well  be  vital;  they  are  usually 
little  if  any  better  than  intellectual  lumber,  a  kind 
of  mental  furniture  which  we  take  for  granted 
because  we  have  been  accustomed  to  seeing  it  in  our 
surroundings  from  our  early  childhood.  Once  we 
begin  to  think  seriously  upon  the  nature  and  import 
of  belief,  we  find  that  our  beliefs,  if  they  are  in  any 
sense  living,  cannot  be  entirely  unimportant,  be- 
cause they  always  do  exercise  a  considerable  amount 
of  influence  upon  our  actual  life.  We  cannot  really 
believe  in  an  angry  God  or  in  useless  and  endless 
misery  without  being  to  some  extent  demoralized 
thereby;  such  beliefs,  therefore,  are  decidedly 
dangerous  in  their  inevitable  tendency,  because  if 
they  are  seriously  entertained,  or  even  passively 
accepted,  their  necessary  tendency  is  to  brutalize 
instead  of  humanize  those  who  hold  them.  When, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  really  believe  in  a  God  of 
love  and  wisdom,  who  is  in  essence  entirely  benefi- 
cent, also  in  the  remedial  nature  of  all  cliastise- 
ment  involving  suffering  both  here  and  here- 
after, such  a  conception  must  have  a  tendency  to 
ennoble  and  purify  our  own  attitude  toward  our 
fellow  beings.  In  all  our  arguments  in  favor  of 
simple  Theism  as  immeasurably  superior  to  every 
narrower  and  cruder  faith,  we  base  our  claim  for 
its  reasonableness  and  goodness,  not  upon  any  meta- 


44    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

physical  subtlety,  but  upon  the  appeal  it  makes  to 
all  the  sweetest  and  noblest  sentiments  in  our 
common  human  nature.  People  must  be  dense  in- 
deed if  they  cannot  see  that  a  higher  idea  of  divine 
government,  extending  throughout  the  universe, 
must  exert  a  better  influence  upon  humanity  at  large 
than  can  any  lower  concept. 

Tracing,  as  far  as  we  are  able,  the  career  of  the 
God  idea  in  history,  we  do  not  find  so  much  of 
widely  separated  streams  of  thought  as  we  trace 
a  blended  current,  due  to  the  fact  that  the  greatest 
teachers  of  humanity  have  appeared  and  worked 
among  all  conditions  of  human  development. 

To  go  no  further  back  than  the  period  referred 
to  in  the  Christian  Gospels  we  are  told  that  a  great 
spiritual  luminary  blazes  forth  in  the  Roman  Em- 
pire, of  which  Judea  is  then  a  province.  This 
spiritual  light  shines  freely  for  all  and  is  poetically 
designated  "the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arisen  with 
healing  in  its  wings,"  a  prophetic  metaphor  which 
clearly  gives  evidence  that  the  disciples  of  a  great 
Master  believed  his  mission  to  be  entirely  universal 
in  its  intent.  So  it  consistently  follows  that  evan- 
gelists record  that  this  great  teacher  commissions 
his  emissaries  to  go  forth  as  ambassadors  into  all 
nations  proclaiming  good  news,  or  joyful  tidings,  to 
every  creature.  But  how  do  the  same  evangelists 
tell  us  that  this  Master  and  his  teachings  were  re- 
ceived ?  Multitudes  at  times  flocked  to  his  standard 
and  crowds  of  common  people  heard  him  gladly,  but 
there  were  also  many  who  regarded  him  as  a  sor- 
cerer, or  as  an  imposter,  and  stirred  up  a  conspiracy 
against  him,   even  as  certain  vicious  elements   in 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     45 

Greek  society  at  an  earlier  day  had  branded  Socrates 
a  foe  to  religion  and  virtue  and  an  enemy  of  the 
State  worthy  only  of  banishment  or  death.  We 
may  well  believe  that  some  people  both  in  Greece 
and  in  Palestine  were  actually  sincere  in  their  be 
nighed  protests  against  the  life  and  teachings  of  the 
great  teachers  whom  they  hounded  out  of  physical 
existence,  but  in  all  probability  the  great  majority 
of  those  who  joined  in  the  clamor  for  the  removal 
of  those  who  were  continually  doing  good  were 
actuated  by  far  from  honorable  motives,  foremost 
among  which  was  the  constant  fear  that  their  own 
temporal  power,  which  they  knew  they  held  un- 
justly, would  soon  be  wrested  from  their  grasp  did 
they  allow  a  high  moral  philosophy  to  win  increas- 
ing triumphs  in  lands  which  they  desired  unright- 
eously to  govern.  But  be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  not 
possible  that  a  low  type  of  intellect  can  ever  grasp 
a  very  high  idea  of  either  divine  or  human  govern- 
ment; thus  it  often  happens  that  quite  sincere,  but 
undeveloped,  natures  believe  that  harsh  coercive 
measures  are  essential  to  the  welfare  of  the  Family 
and  of  the  State,  therefore,  from  their  standpoint, 
those  who  teach  the  Law  of  Love  and  adopt  a 
higher  policy  than  that  of  warfare  are  looked  upon 
as  dangerous  fanatics  who,  if  their  influence  should 
greatly  spread,  would  quickly  undermine  and  over- 
throw the  safeguards  of  society.  Thos€  who 
entertain  such  views,  and  we  have  some  such  human 
fossils  in  our  midst  to-day,  cannot  see  anything  but 
a  dangerous  menace  to  morality  in  the  breaking  up 
of  the  old  traditions  to  which  they  slavishly  adhere, 
fearing  that  if  these  be  even  weakened  a  deluge  of 


46    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

vice  and  anarchy  will  speedily  overwhelm  the  earth. 
Many  preachers  who  represent  the  extreme  of  sur- 
viving religious  orthodoxy  express  not  the  slightest 
hesitancy  in  declaring  that  apart  from  some  element 
of  dogmatic  theological  teaching  interfused,  all 
advance  in  secular  education  must  eventually  result 
in  weakening  instead  of  strengthening  the  ramparts 
of  morality. 

This  contention,  though  ultimately  unsound,  com- 
mends  itself  with  easy  readiness  to  the  minds  of 
timid  and  highly  emotional  people  who  have  never 
sought  to  soberly  sift  the  groundworks  of  morality. 
Dogmatic  theology  has  long  been  so  closely  asso- 
ciated with  moral  training  in  the  minds  of  large  rural 
populations  in  many  countries  that  it  must  be  diffi- 
cult for  many  parents,  who  belong  to  an  old  regime, 
to  understand  the  attitude  of  the  Ethical  Culturists 
of  the  present  day,  and  some  show  of  reasonable- 
ness attaches  to  their  fears  because  of  the  fact  that 
during  a  transition  period  like  the  present,  when  an 
impulsive  rising  generation  breaks  away  from  time- 
honored  moorings  it  is  very  likely  to  plunge  un- 
thinkingly into  an  abyss  of  folly  from  which  it 
can  only  be  recovered  through  the  agency  of  a 
wiser  mode  of  treatment  than  is  yet  widely  com- 
prehended by  the  masses.  It  is,  hovvever,  only  fair 
to  state  that  the  present  generation  is  guilty  of  no 
crimes  or  follies  which  were  not  often  perpetrated 
in  the  so-called  "good  old  days"  when  the  parson 
was  supreme  in  the  village,  the  Bible  regularly  read, 
and  family  prayer  punctuallv  offered.  There  are 
evidently  two  causes  for  modern  religious  and  social 
unrest;  one  is  unmistakably  due  to  the  spirit  of  the 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     47 

age,  which  no  attempt  to  quench  can  prove  success- 
ful ;  the  other  proceeds  from  a  certain  careless 
impetuosity,  begotten  of  that  very  restraint  which 
so  many  short-sighted  persons  believe  to  be  the  only 
safeguard  of  youth  and  upholder  of  morality.  Take 
us  as  a  whole  we  are  undoubtedly  deeper  and  more 
serious  thinkers  than  were  our  forefathers,  though 
we  may  not  have  among  us  any  very  large  number 
of  particularly  eminent  men  and  women ;  but  this 
seeming  absence  of  distinguished  geniuses  may  be 
fairly  attributed  to  the  causes  which  Bulwer  Lytton 
in  his  famous  novel,  ''The  Coming  Race,"  says  the 
.Vril-Ya  gave  for  the  absence  of  distinguished  genius 
in  that  mysterious  subterranean  world  into 
which  that  highly  romantic  author  has  introduced 
his  often  awestruck  readers.  Where  the  general 
average  of  intelligence  is  high  we  cannot  reasonably 
expect  that  lofty  mental  attainments  will  stand  out 
so  conspicuously  as  where  it  is  comparatively  low; 
likewise  where  the  general  moral  attitude  is  fairly 
lofty  we  seldom  pause  to  contemplate  with  great 
esteem  some  distinguished  moral  hero;  and  again 
we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  true  and 
lasting  morality  can  never  be  secured  where  in- 
dividuality is  suppressed  and  the  people  cowed  into 
submission  by  threats  of  terrific  punishment  if  they 
dare  to  disobey  the  mandates  of  their  commanding 
officers.  We  are  certainly  nearer  to  the  long  pre- 
dicted Golden  Age  than  we  have  ever  been  before. 

But  what  is  really  meant  by  this  romantic  figure 
of  speech?  we  may  well  enquire.  An  age  in  which 
literal  gold  is  worshiped,  as  though  it  were  veritable 
Deity,  must  ever  be  an  age  of  dire  calamity,  and 


48    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

such  it  has  ever  proved  whenever  and  wherever 
this  popular  idol  has  been  enthroned  for  adoration. 
Gold  in  the  Alchemical  sense  means  something  far 
different  indeed  from  any  precious  material  metal, 
though  it  can  scarcely  be  seriously  disputed  among 
students  of  Alchemistic  Philosophy  that  all  its  chief 
exponents  have  admitted  the  possibility  of  the 
literal  transmutation  of  baser  into  superior  metals, 
and  all  eventually  into  gold.  The  symbolic  mention 
of  gold,  however,  directs  our  thoughts  far  away 
from  all  external  treasures  and  centers  them  upon  a 
celestial  inheritance,  in  comparison  with  which  all 
worldly  possessions  must  sink  into  utter  insignifi- 
cance; therefore  we  are  perpetually  assured  by 
Mystics  of  every  rank  and  name,  that  the  true 
object  of  Alchemical  research  is  the  regeneration 
of  individual  human  beings  immediately,  and  ulti- 
mately of  the  entire  Human  Race.  "I  believe  in 
the  resurrection  of  the  Body  and  in  the  Life  Ever- 
lasting," originally  meant  far  more  than  it  means 
to  the  average  Creed-reciter  of  to-day,  who  is 
usually  one  who  scarcely  seeks  to  find  any  interior 
meaning  in  the  mighty  mystic  words  which  rise 
so  glibly  to  the  lips  of  all  who  have  simply  learned 
to  utter  published  phrases.  In  like  manner  Baptis- 
mal Regeneration  is  taken  only  as  to  its  most 
external  garb,  when  in  reality  it  has  true  reference 
to  that  marvel  of  interior  transformation  which  it 
has  always  been  the  object  of  the  Mysteries  to 
progressively  unveil.  The  first  body  to  be  con- 
sidered when  we  are  dealing  with  Mystic  Initiation 
is,  of  course,  the  inner  body  of  the  Neophyte  or 
Candidate,  one  who  is  sometimes  termed  a  Cate* 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     49 

chumen;  but  as  no  selfish  desire  for  exclusive 
individual ,  salvation  or  enligTitenment  can  ever  be 
approved  spiritually,  it  has  always  been  the  open  as 
well  as  the  private  teaching  of  real  Initiates  that 
Social  Regeneration  is  the  great  intent  of  all  true 
Mystic  Schools. 

Turning  again  to  Forlong's  Chart  for  illustrative 
examples,  we  find  the  colors  employed  are  Red, 
Blue,  Green,  Pink,  Brown,  Violet  and  Yellow. 
Worship  of  Fetiches  is  marked  at  the  very  begin- 
ning of  the  record  and  takes  historic  rank  with 
Charms  and  Amulets,  which  were  venerated  every- 
where in  the  remotest  ages  of  which  we  possess 
any  definite  or  authentic  record.  Three  quite  dis- 
tinct, but  for  long  contemporary,  objects  of  world- 
wide veneration  were  the  Tree,  pictured  appropri- 
ately in  green;  the  Lingam  and  Yoni,  sacred  to 
Phallic  Faiths,  portrayed  in  yellow ;  and  the  Serpent, 
portrayed  in  brown,  doubtless  to  suggest  the  earth 
on  which  the  serpent  moves.  These  three  especially 
ancient  Emblems  all  interblend  and  at  length  become 
merged,  or  at  least  united,  in  the  Sacred  Ritual  of 
ancient  Egypt,  accounts  of  which  are  now  quite  eas- 
ily procurable.  About  3000  B.  C,  according  to  For- 
long's  reckoning,  there  were  great  wars  between 
Jovites  and  Titanites  and  between  Solar  and  Lunar 
worshipers.  At  this  distance  of  time  it  is  not 
necessary  to  attempt  to  enter  elaborately  into  the 
causes  and  nature  of  these  conflicts,  but  it  does 
certainly  appear  that  the  position  of  the  opposite 
sexes,  as  objects  of  veneration,  was  often  a  burning 
point  of  controversy  in  olden  times. 

With  recent  dissertations  concerning  Atlantis  the 


50     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

antiquity  of  ancient  Faiths  seems  much  greater  than 
before  that  once  mighty  submerged  Island-continent 
became  a  subject  of  popular  research,  as  it  had  not 
become  when  Forlong's  Chart  was  originally  issued, 
but  though  LePlongeon  and  other  indefatigable 
students  of  antiquity  quite  clearly  trace  all  Oriental 
and  Occidental  beliefs  and  practices  to  their  com- 
mon home  in  Atlantis,  it  is  highly  probable  that  the 
dispersion  of  religious  systems  rapidly  spread  at 
the  time  of  the  breaking  up  of  that  mysterious  land, 
the  last  remnants  of  which  are  said  to  have  finally 
collapsed  very  nearly  10,000  years  before  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Christian  Era. 

This  great  event  may  well  account  for  the  exist- 
ence of  a  specific  traceable  chronology  carrying  us 
back  to  10,000  B.  C,  but  no  further. 

Definite  and  simple  Theism,  within  the  present 
historic  period  (traced  in  vivid  red  on  Forlong's 
Chart)  is  not  made  to  appear  earlier  than  2,400 
B.  C.  Intensely  interesting,  and  instructive  also, 
though  these  graphically  formulated  statements 
prove  there  must  always  be  some  doubt  as  to  precise 
historic  accuracy,  though  none  whatever  as  to  the 
real  prevalence  of  different  Religious  Systems  and 
very  little  as  to  the  effect  which  each  is  logically 
calculated  to  exert  upon  its  faithful  devotees. 

This  point  conceded,  we  must  be  prepared  to  go 
a  definite  step  further,  and  consider  that  all  Systems 
have  their  letter  and  their  spirit,  and  while  the  letter 
is  always  crude,  and  sometimes  even  barbaric,  the 
spirit  is  pure  and  gentle,  reminding  us  of  nuts, 
which  have  hard  indigestible  exterior  shells  while 
they  are  inwardly  delicious  and  nutritious. 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     51 

''The  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life,"  is 
ndt  a  text  that  can  apply  alone  to  the  Mosaic  Law, 
or  to  any  other  portions  of  the  Bible  of  the  Jew  and 
of  the  Christian;  it  is  applicable  to  every  record 
accounted  sacred  by  any  section  of  mankind.  Is 
there  then  no  place  remaining  in  these  modern  days 
for  missionary  enterprise?  There  is  a  vast  new  field 
opening  for  missionary  endeavor,  but  the  coming 
missionary  must  be  a  man  or  woman  widely  awake 
to  the  actual  needs  of  our  present  humanity,  which 
greatly  needs  convincing  of  the  unity  of  all  religious 
systems  at  their  core.  The  letter  of  all  systems  is 
in  process  of  sure  disintegration  and  in  this  dis- 
solving process  many  observers  think  they  see  the 
growing  disappearance  of  religion  itself  from  earth 
In  this  surmise  they  must  soon  find  themselves 
mistaken,  for  actual  discovery  of  the  roots  of  all 
religious  trees  is  leading  multitudes  to  accept,  not 
Adieism  but  Theosophy.  Annie  Besant  is  not  tlie 
only  brilliant  worker  in  the  ranks  of  Atheistic 
propaganda  who  has  discovered  its  pitiful  unsatis- 
factoriness,  though  she  has  proved  an  exceptionally 
prominent  and  influential  example  in  this  connec- 
tion. Prof.  Charles  Eliot,  President  Emeritus  of 
Harvard  University,  has  undoubtedly,  to  some  ex- 
tent, correctly  outlined  the  religion  of  the  future, 
but  that  religion  may  have  many  other  excellent 
aspects  besides  those  which  this  kindl}^  veteran 
educator  has  vigorously  emphasized.  The  religion 
of  the  future  is  certainly  in  the  making,  and  though 
it  can  be  neither  wished  nor  expected  that  it  will  be  an 
entirely  new  production,  it  is  not  unduly  optimistic 
or  presumptuous  to  predict  that  it  will  contain  all 


52     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

that  is  worth  preserving  in  the  heritages  we  have 
•gathered  from  the  past,  but  as  new  times  require 
new  appHcations  of  eternal  verities,  we  must  not 
imagine  that  anything  worth  preserving  is  being 
swept  away  because  old  truth  is  being  freshly  gar- 
mented and  the  present  generation  is  voicing  the 
Wisdom  of  the  Ages  in  a  language  of  its  own. 


CHAPTER   III. 

ANCIENT    AND     MODE:rN     IDEAS    OF    REVEI.ATION. 

ITS  SOURCES  AND  AGENCIES. 

Though  the  true  meaning  of  a  revelation  is 
simply  a  disclosure  this  obviously  simple  word  has 
long  been  one  to  conjure  with,  and  it  is  still  to-day 
a  veritable  storm-center  wherever  theological 
matters  ar^  discussed. 

Scientifically,  however,  the  word  presents  no 
difficulties,  for  in  scientific  circles  it  is  always  used 
as  the  synoynm  of  discovery.  We  may  truly  say 
that  we  receive  a  revelation  of  the  heavens  when 
we  gaze  through  telescopes  into  the  midnight  skies 
and  trace  the  process  of  the  constellations,  but  no 
one  imagines  for  an  instant  that  the  stars  are  de- 
liberately showing  themselves  to  astronomers  and 
hiding  their  faces  from  all  other  persons.  But  it 
remains  a  fact  that  certain  astronomers  actually  see 
far  more  of  the  heavenly  bodies  than  is  beheld  by 
the  general  bulk  of  any  population. 

Let  us  apply  this  simple  illustration  to  those  great 
seers  or  prophets,  who  may  well  be  termed  the 
spiritual  star-gazers  of  our  race.  Such  men  and 
women  are  figuratively  represented  as  climbing  to 
the  tops  of  mountains,  and  delving  into  caves  of 
the  earth  and  clefts  of  rocks,  just  as  astronomers 

53 


54     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

and  geologists  literally  ascend  mountain  eminences, 
and  dive  into  the  depths  of  the  crust  of  the  planet, 
that  they  may  in  the  one  case  have  a  wider  view 
of  the  sky  and  in  the  other  a  bettre  opportunity  to 
examine  the  layers  or  strata  of  the  globe.  We 
know  quite  well  that  certain  places  are  particularly 
favorable  for  astronomical  observations;  among 
these  deep  wells  have  always  occupied  a  foremost 
place,  for  we  can  see  the  stars  at  midday  if  we 
descend  into  a  well  and  at  night-time  we  can  only 
have  a  wide  sweep  of  the  heavens  if  we  plant  our 
observatories  on  lofty  heights.  Natural  similitudes 
have  always  been  employed  by  bards  or  psalmists  to 
describe  their  realization  of  the  neailhess  of  the 
spiritual  universe,  which  does  indeed  interpenetrate 
as  well  as  encircle  all  material  orbs.  The  nineteenth 
psalm,  and  some  majestic  portions  of  the  Book  of 
Job,  won  the  admiration  of  Thomas  Paine,  who 
quotes  some  splendid  passages  in  his  **Age  of 
Reason,"  in  which  much  controverted  volume  he 
levels  biting  sarcasm  at  many  other  portions  of  the 
Bible,  which  he  deems  entirely  inconsistent  with  the 
glorious  conception  of  the  Supreme  Being  set  forth 
in  the  quotations  he  admires.  "The  heavens  declare 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  firmament  showeth  his 
handiwork,"  is  a  superb  tribute  to  its  author'^  sub- 
lime idea  of  Nature,  and  yet  more  ddes  it  testify 
to  his  realization  of  human  ability  to  scan  the 
heavens  and  read,  in  their  outspread  beauties,  the 
caligraphy  of  the  Almighty.  The  cattle  in  the  fields 
are  just  as  near  the  sky  as  the  shepherd  who  is 
tending  his  flocks  on  the  same  pasture  ground,  but 
we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  sheep  or  oxen 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     55 

contemplate  the  heavens  as  did  the  shepherd  king  of 
ancient  Israel,  and  we  have  no  ground  for  surmising 
that  even  the  average  human  traveler  who  ascends  to 
the  summit  of  some  lofty  peak  has  anything  like 
the  same  idea  of  the  starlit  skies  as  those  Magi 
or  Wise  Men  of  ancient  Persia  or  Chaldea,  who  are 
said  to  have  discovered  the  Star  of  Bethlehem  at 
the  time  of  the  birth  of  Jesus.  Every  age  has  had, 
and  the  present  undoubtedly  has,  its  particularly 
earnest  and  qualified  inspectors  of  the  widely  open 
book  of  natural  revelation,  which  is  never  for  an 
instant  closed  except  in  the  face  of  ignorance  and 
indifference.  Were  we  all  equally  open-eyed  and 
open-minded  we  should  all  receive  an  equal  revela- 
tion, for  Nature  holds  no  secrets  shut  away  from 
some,  which  are  purposely  revealed  to  others.  Who, 
let  us  ask,  were  those  prophets  of  old,  who  saw  and 
heard  so  much  more  of  the  ways  of  Deity  than  did 
the  hosts  of  their  contemporaries,  to  whom  they  al- 
ways appear  as  almost  unfathomable  enigmas, 
strange  beings  like  ''super-men,"  to  be  eitlier  blindly 
venerated  or  ruthlessly  persecuted,  according  to  the 
temper  of  those  among  whom  they  mingled.  These 
mystic  visionaries,  and  stalwart  champions  of  right- 
eousness, have  ever  been  the  glory  of  the  lands  on 
which  they  have  set  foot,  and  their  record  is  handed 
down  through  successive  centuries  and  milleniums 
as  bearing  special  witness  to  divine  interposition  in 
the  ordinary  affairs  of  men.  But  science,  perhaps, 
will  not  allow  us  to  use  that  word  interposition,  see- 
ing that  it  gives  color  to  a  belief  very  much  at  vari- 
ance with  general  scientific  reasoning;  let  us  then  in- 
terpret the  history  of  those  romantic  dwellers  on  the 


56    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

borders  of  the  unseen  universe  in  reasonable  terms, 
easily  understood  by  all  who  are  diligently  seeking 
to  show  that  unity  exists  between  the  physical  and 
superphysical  at  all  times.  We  may  well  afford  to 
discard  the  adjective  "supernatural,"  unless  we  give 
it  a  significance  quite  at  variance  with  much  that 
passes  for  theology.  There  are  higher  and  lower 
planes  of  nature ;  thus  it  is  not  incorrect  to  call  some 
super  and  others  suh,  when  we  are  comparing  them 
with  a  genreal  average  level  of  human  intellectual 
attainment,  which  claims  to  have  a  certain  amount 
of  acquaintance  with  a  very  limited  portion  of 
Nature,  but  freely  speculates  regarding  other 
realms,  which  are  beyond  the  scrutiny  of  ordinary 
observations.  There  is  nothing  unscientific,  and 
certainly  nothing  irrational,  in  lending  a  willing  ear 
to  the  testimony  of  the  ages  on  behalf  of  spiritual 
revelation,  provided  we  always  admit  that  what  was 
possible  in  the  past  is  equally  possible  to-day,  and 
that  however  strange  to  us  certain  phenomena  may 
seem,  we  have  no  ground  for  supposing  that  because 
they  are  (to  us)  mysterious,  they  are  not  as  much 
in  harmony  with  the  operation  of  undeviating  law 
as  the  erratic  movements  of  a  celestial  visitor  like 
Halley's  Comet,  which  comes  to  visit  our  skies 
only  about  once  in  every  seventy-five  years,  in- 
stead of  appearing  regularly  in  the  heavens  like 
those  familiar  planets  Jupiter,  Venus,  Mercury, 
Mars  and  Saturn,  who  are  old  friends  to  every  one 
of  us.  Whatever  we  are  accustomed  to  regularly 
behold  we  are  quite  certain  to  call  natural,  but  any- 
thing unusual  or  previously  unknown  to  us  we  are 
apt  to  dub  supernatural,  thereby  exposing  a  strange, 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     57 

but  familiar,  combination  of  ignorance  and  self-con- 
ceit. What  right  have  we  to  claim  to  so  far  know 
the  limits  of  the  natural  as  either  to  deny  the  pos^ 
sibility  of  some  curious  phenomenon  or  else  rashly 
attribute  it  to  some  miraculous  intervention  of 
divine  providence,  as  though  God  changed  or  sus- 
pended universal  order  every  time  we  encounter 
something  we  are  not  wise  enough  to  explain?  The 
growing  thought  of  to-day  in  cultured  circles  is 
drifting  ever  further  and  further  away  from 
atheism,  and  from  supernaturalism  also,  and  is 
coming  to  a  reasonable  conclusion  that  the  unseen 
universe  has  never  been  entirely  invisible  to  the 
whole  of  humanity,  though  very  few  apparently 
have  anywhere  at  any  time  penetrated  to  any  large 
extent  into  its  mysterious  depths.  The  honored 
names  of  Sir  William  Crookes,  Sir  Oliver  Lodge, 
and  many  other  distinguished  modern  scientists 
immediately  summon  forth  the  idea  of  fearless  and 
industrious  seekers  after  truth  coupling  psychical 
research  with  general  mundane  occupations.  These 
good  and  great  men,  and  many  others  associated 
with  them,  have  during  many  years  of  indefatigable 
investigation  accumulated  an  enormus  quantity  of 
facts  which  have  already  gone  immensely  far  to 
dispel  the  clouds  of  superstition  and  negation  which 
still,  to  some  extent,  obscure  the  public  intellect, 
even  in  Great  Britain  and  America  where  intellect- 
ual progress  has  supposedly  reached  a  very  noble 
pitch.  Soon  after  the  breaking  forth  of  the  move- 
ment known  as  Modern  Spiritualism  in  America, 
in  1848,  a  large  number  of  highly  distinguished  men 
of  light  and  leading  in  various  communities  under- 


58     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

took  a  searching  investigation  of  the  claims  of  the 
new  cult,  which  from  its  inception  has  always  em- 
bodied within  itself  the  most  curiously  heterogen- 
eous elements.  Among  distinguished  authors  on 
both  sides  the  Atlantic  a  foremost  place  is  deserv- 
edly given  to  William  Howitt,  whose  compendious 
work,  ''The  History  of  The  Supernatural  in  all 
Ages  and  Nations,  and  in  all  Churches,  Christian 
and  Pagan,  demonstrating  a  universal  faith"  may 
well  be  styled  a  monumental  tribute  to  ripe  pains- 
taking scholarship.  In  this  great  work,  issued  in 
two  large  volumes  both  in  England  and  America, 
we  have  an  account  of  spiritual  manifestations  of 
the  most  widely  diversified  character,  ranging  from 
the  truly  angelic  to  the  distinctively  diabolical,  and 
as  the  author  was  one  of  the  best  known  scholars  of 
his  day,  and  a  man  who  wrote  much  of  the  best 
standard  educational  literature  published  in  Great 
Britain  during  the  middle  of  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, his  testimony  cannot  be  lightly  brushed  aside; 
nor  can  we  justifiably  ignore  the  works  of  those 
famous  Americans,  Mapes  and  Hare,  or  the  writ- 
ings of  Judge  Edmonds  and  many  other  equally 
well  known  and  highly  reliable  members  of  the 
learned  professions,  all  of  whom  from  a  worldly 
standpoint  risked  much,  but  could  gain  nothing,  by 
giving  their  endorsement  to  the  genuineness  of 
marvels  which  were  rudely  scouted,  not  only  by 
the  ordinary  people  but  by  the  great  majority  of 
college  professors  and  graduates  who  would  not 
condescend  to  seriously  investigate  them.  No  one 
doubts  that  a  vast  amount  of  fraud  has  been  intro- 
duced in  the  name  of  Spiritualism,  and  we  cannot 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     59 

close  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  many  honest  people 
are  sometimes  subject  to  hallucinations,  but  there 
is  unmistakably  a  large  residiuum  of  fact  which  con- 
clusively proves  the  existence  of  a  spiritual  life  in 
humanity  which  far  transcends  all  materialistic 
theories  of  human  origin  and  destiny.  Prof.  Alfred 
Russel  Wallace, — himself  an  earnest  Spiritualist 
as  well  as  a  world-renowned  Naturalist — has  some- 
times expressed  his  opinion  that  our  humanity  to- 
day does  not  essentially  differ  from  the  humanity 
expressed  on  earth  during  the  Stone  Age  or  some 
other  remote  geological  period.  If  this  be  a  fact, 
and  we  see  no  reason  to  dispute  it,  we  can  very 
readily  understand  how  it  has  come  to  pass  that  we 
find  ourselves  to-day  invited  to  share  experiences 
common  to  ancient  nations  and  individuals  who 
have  left  behind  them  extraordinary  testimonies  to 
the  commingling,  to  some  extent  at  least,  of  dis- 
carnate  spiritual  entities  with  physically  embodied 
humanity.  Without  presuming  to  deny  the  exisit- 
ence  of  multitudinous  orders  of  intelligencies  in  the 
Universe  belonging  to  very  different  planets  and 
systems  than  our  own,  we  have  certainly  the  right, 
and  it  is  indeed  our  imperative  scientific  duty,  to 
weigh  the  alleged  evidence  brought  forward  in 
fancied  support  of  the  oft-repeated  allegation  that 
the  Angels  of  light,  and  also  the  Demons  of  dark- 
ness, constantly  referred  to  in  our  Bible,  and  in  a 
multitude  of  other  venerated  Scriptures,  belong  to 
other  orders  in  Creation  than  ourselves.  It  seems 
almost  unaccountable,  in  the  face  of  the  Biblical 
record  itself,  that  anyone  should  ever  have  imagined 
that  the  authors  of  the  text  ever  had  in  mind  the 


6o    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

appearance  on  earth  as  Angels,  of  beings  of  any 
other  Order  than  ourselves,  for  the  narrators  always 
describe  celestial  visitors  as  men,  or  at  any  rate  as 
human,  for  there  is  no  definite  allusion  to  sex  in  any 
original.  The  masculine  and  plural  genders  are  very 
much  confused  in  English  versions  of  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  and  this  is  often  due  to  the  fact  that  a 
great  many  Hebrew  words  fail  to  give  any  idea 
that  one  sex  rather  than  the  other  is  indicated. 
Nothing  but  senseless  bigotry  and  old-fogeyism  can 
have  led  ecclesiastical  commissioners  to  reject 
statues  representing  angels,  as  occurred  at  one  time 
in  New  York,  because  the  sculptor  had  chiseled 
some  of  them  in  male  and  others  in  female  shape, 
and  for  educated  Christians  to  take  so  ridiculous 
a  stand  would  be  quite  incomprehensible  were  it  not 
for  our  .painful  familiarity  with  the  strenuous 
endeavors  of  intolerant  males  in  many  ages  to  con- 
sign their  mothers  and  sisters  to  comparative 
oblivion  while  they  filled  all  important  of^ces  them- 
selves and  derived  their  adequate  support  very 
largely  indeed  from  the  work  and  income  of  the  fe- 
male members  of  their  flocks.  A  very  old  and  pow- 
erful weapon  is  wrested  from  the  grasp  of  masculine 
ecclesiastical  monopolists  immediately  we  prove  to 
the  world  that  the  very  authority  on  which  they 
have  relied  to  sustain  their  fictitious  claims  is  act- 
ually against  them.  People  have  a  perfect  right  to 
openly  dispute  the  doctrine  of  Biblical  authority, 
but  there  can  be  no  fair  play  if  we  misrepresent  the 
teachings  of  any  documents  and  then  base  our  own 
dogmas  on  such  misrepresentation.  The  first 
chapter    of    Genesis    emphatically    declares    that 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     6l 

original  Humanity  is  equally  male  and  female. 
There  can  be  but  two  intelligible  explanations  of 
this  fact,  viz.,  the  ancient  belief,  still  entertained 
by  many  Mystics,  that  human  beings  were  originally 
super-sexual,  sex  differentiation  only  beginning  with 
some  departure  from  an  original  condition,  and  the 
much  simpler  view,  which  we  can  all  appreciate 
without  plunging  into  any  deep  waters  of  Mystic- 
ism, that  whenever  and  wherever  human  life  first 
made  its  appearance  on  this  planet  males  and  fe- 
males were  existent  side  by  side  on  terms  of  com- 
plete equality.  Who  then  are  the  Bible  angels  who 
so  frequently  appeared  to  patriarchal  families  of 
old?  Young  men,  in  our  English  text,  they  fre- 
quently are  called,  and  so  perfectly  human  in  all 
their  attributes  did  they  appear  that  frequently  we 
are  told  the  inhabitants  of  cities  in  which  they 
manifested  mistook  them  for  ordinary  travelers, — 
a  circumstance  which  once  for  ajl  disposes  of  the 
claim  that  they  were  something  other  than  human,  or 
that  they  appeared  in  any  startling,  because  unfam- 
iliar, guise  We  have  no  justifiable  reason  for  de- 
ciding that  all  the  Biblical  Angels  were  even  human 
spiritual  entities  disrobed  of  flesh ;  it  is  quite  rational 
to  maintain  that  the  word  "angel"  is  often  used  to 
designate  a  messenger  from  some  Spiritual  Order, 
one  who  merely  held  high  rank  as  a  teacher  or 
ambassador  and' who  was  entrusted  with  some  par- 
ticular commission  to  a  special  place  and  people. 
There  seems  good  reason  for  admitting  the  con- 
tention of  Edward  Irving, — founder  of  the  body 
of  Christians  styling  itself  Catholic  Apostolic 
Church, — that   the  primitive   Chrisian   Church   ac- 


62     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

knowledged  four  Orders  of  Ministers,  the  highest 
of  which  was  termed  Angels.  This  doctrine 
proclaimed  successfully  in  the  Nineteenth  century, 
first  in  Great  Britain,  and  then  in  several  other 
lands,  by  the  intrepid  Irving  and  his  devoted  fol- 
lowers, derived  much  sanction  from  the  opening 
chapters  of  the  Apocalypse,  which  speaks  of  the 
message  of  the  Spirit  being  sent  to  the  Angels  of 
the  Seven  Churches  of  Asia,  the  plain  inference 
being  that  the  overseers  thus  designated  must  have 
helc^  a  rank  similar  to  that  of  bishops  in  many 
Christian  communities  to-day.  It  seems,  however, 
certain  that  though  the  simplest  definition  of  angel 
is,  broadly  speaking,  messenger,  ancient  Scriptures 
give  us  frequently  to  understand  that  beings  ordin- 
arily unseen  occasionally  made  their  appearance  in 
materialized  form,  and  when  they  did  so  they  were 
not  generally  distinguishable  from  ordinary  human 
beings.  Whenever  we  are  led  to  suppose  that  they 
were  seen  by  common  vision  we  may  rationally  sup- 
pose that  they  were  actually  young  Initiates  into  the 
Temple  Mysteries  of  antiquity,  commissioned  by 
the  Heads  of  the  Orders  to  act  as  ambassadors  or 
intermediaries.  This  very  simple  commentary  on 
some,  otherwise  highly  mysterious,  portions  of  the 
Bible  text  explains  lucidly  and  simply  the  oft-re- 
peated title  ''Angel  of  the  Lord,"  which  occurs  with 
great  frequency,  and  though  it  may  come  as  a 
decided  shock  to  Bible-worshipers  to  be  offered  so 
simple  a  commentary,  even  the  most  orthodox  of 
such, — if  in  any  way  connected  with  one  or  other 
of  the  sacerdotal  Churches, — will  soon  begin  to  see 
that  if  such  were  the  case  in  days  of  old,  this  fact 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     6^ 

only  bears  witness  to  the  antiquity  and  continuity 
of  a  priestiv  system,  and  priesthoods  are,  as  we  all 
well  know,  much  more  ancient  than  either  Christian- 
ity or  Judaism.  According  to  the  ideas  we  are  now 
expressing,  we  must  take  into  exact  account  the 
original  meaning  of  terms  and  titles  variously  trans- 
lated GOD ;  the  Lord  God ;  the  Lord ;  and  the  Angel 
of  the  Lord.  These  designatory  titles  are  by  no 
means  correctly  interchangeable,  and  the  fact  that 
they  have  been  so  largely  regarded  as  synonymous 
has  led  to  an  immense  amount  of  bewildering  and 
acrimonious  controversy.  We  can  scarcely  believe 
that  any  man,  woman,  youth  or  maiden,  possessed 
of  ordinary  intelligence  and  fairly  well  acquainted 
with  the  English  language,  would  ever  imagine  that 
these  four  plainly  distinctive  titles  were  used  as 
synonyms  originally,  any  more  than  one  is  inclined 
to  believe,  when  reading  general  history,  that  an 
envoy  is  the  monarch  whose  commissions  he  has 
been  appointed  to  fulfil.  Every  student  of  Kabbal- 
istic  literature  knows  thoroughly  well  that  the  oldest 
Hebrew  documents  treat  largely  of  various  Orders 
of  Intelligences  who  execute  Divine  commissions  and 
take  actively  influential  parts  in  directing  the  affairs 
of  Earth.  No  one  can  read  a  modern  Jewish  Prayer 
Book,  belonging  to  the  orthodox  or  conservative 
school,  without  finding  frequent  mention  of  several 
Celestial  Hierarchies,  in  accordance  with  very 
ancient  terminology.  For  example,  we  will  turn  to 
the  standard  popular  orthodox  Jewish  Prayer  Book 
in  use  throughout  the  British  Empire,  and  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  also  in  the  United  States.  In  the 
course  of  the  Morning  Service  for  Sabbaths  and 


64     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

Festivals,  occur  the  following  majestic  words,  which 
are  verily  a  beautiful  link  between  the  more  prosaic 
present  and  the  richly-storied  and  imaginative  past: 
*'Be  thou  blessed,  O  our  Rock,  our  King  and  Re- 
deemer, Creator  of  holy  beings.  Praised  be  thy 
name  for  ever,  O  our  King;  Creator  of  ministering 
spirits,  all  of  whom  stand  in  the  heights  of  the 
universe  and  proclaim  with  awe  in  unison  aloud  the 
words  of  the  living  God  and  everlasting  King.  All 
of  them  are  beloved,  pure  and  mighty,  and  all  of 
them  in  dread  and  awe  do  the  will  of  their  Master ; 
and  all  of  them  open  their  mouths  in  holiness  and 
purity,  with  song  and  psalm,  while  they  bless  and 
praise,  glorify  and  reverence,  sanctify  and  ascribe 
sovereignty  to  the  name  of  the  Divine  King,  the 
great,  mighty  and  dreaded  One,  holy  is  he ;  and  they 
all  take  upon  themselves  the  yoke  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  one  from  the  other,  and  give  sanction  to 
one  another  to  hallow  their  Creator;  in  tranquil  joy 
of  spirit,  with  pure  speech  and  holy  melody  they  all 
respond  in  unison,  and  exclaim  with  awe;  Holy, 
holy,  holy  is  the  Lord  of  hosts;  the  whole  earth  is 
full  of  his  glory;  and  the  Ophanim  and  the  holy 
Chayoth  with  a  noise  of  great  rushing,  upraising 
themselves  towards  the  Seraphim,  thus  over  against 
them  offer  praise  and  say  Blessed  be  the  glory  of 
the  Lord  from  his  place." 

The  above  quotation,  which  would  find  no  exact 
parallel  in  any  Prayer  Book  compiled  by  Rabbis  of 
the  Reform  school,  is  an  interesting  survival,  both 
in  sentiment  and  language,  of  very  ancient  Jewish 
tliought,  tho'  we  would  presume  to  suggest  that  im- 
provements in  the  English  version  would  in  no  way 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     65 

obscure  the  meaning  of  the  Hebrew  original,  which 
still  remains  the  unrivaled  tongue  of  orthodox  Israel- 
itish  worship.  Such  a  word  as  "dread"  finds  a  bet- 
ter substitute  in  "reverence,"  and  it  is  highly  import- 
ant to  keep  this  thought  in  mind  when  we  under- 
take to  criticize  the  Bible  texts,  from  the  sublime 
imagery  of  which  such  utterances  have  been  col- 
lated. Ezekiel's  visions  are  responsible  for  such 
passages  as  the  one  just  cited,  and  it  is,  of  course, 
very  largely  open  to  conjecture  how  far  it  was  for- 
merly believed  in  Israel  that  these  visions  were 
actually  revelations  of  life  in  the  Spiritual  Universe, 
and  how  far  the  language  was  designedly  sym- 
bolical. But  however  much  room  there  may  be  for 
controversy  in  this  particular  regard,  no  doubt 
whatever  can  exist  in  the  minds  of  those  who  have 
made  themselves  familiar  with  the  records  of 
antiquity,  that  the  Jews,  in  common  with  all  other 
historic  peoples,  had  firm  confidence  in  the  real 
existence  of  unnumbered  legions  of  spiritual  cmo- 
panies,  who  were  often  called  the  Legions  of  the 
Skies.  It  has  remained  for  Le  Plongeon,  and  a 
few  other  indefatigable  modern  investigators  in 
the  Western  Hemisphere  to  prove  conclusively  the 
enormous  antiquity  of  similar  convictions  in  West- 
ern as  well  as  Eastern  lands.  Though  at  first  sight 
it  may  appear  to  unreflecting  minds  that  there  is 
little  else  than  primitive  superstition  in  these 
allusions  to  manifold  Orders  of  spiritual  existences, 
it  surely  requires  but  a  very  little  intelligent  medi- 
tation on  the  scientifically  revealed  arrangement 
of  the  universe  to  put  to  flight  so  vapid  a  conclu- 
sion.    Harmony  is  everywhere  self -evidently  dis- 


66    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

played  in  the  systematic  organization  of  solar 
systems  which  stud  the  immensities  of  infinitude, 
and  in  all  the  myriad  systems  of  worlds  discovered 
through  the  piercing  eye  of  the  most  far-reaching 
telescopes,  we  find  no  two  globes  exactly  similar  tho' 
all  are  constructed  of  a  single  primary  substance 
and  all  revolve  with  such  perfect  regularity  that 
astronomers  know  exactly  when  to  expect  the  re- 
appearance of  even  the  remotest  star  in  the  gigantic 
aggregation  of  constellations  which  make  up  our 
universe.  This  indisputable  natural  revelation  well 
comports  with  all  that  we  are  accustomed  to  call 
Natural  Religion,  and  when  it  is  fairly  weighed  it 
serves  to  explain,  without  denying  the  primal  basis 
of  Revealed  Religion,  because  when  both  are  rightly 
understood  one  dovetails  into  the  other.  Natural 
Religionists  invariably  claim  that  they  derive  all 
their  ideas  from  a  contemplation  of  natural  pheno- 
mena without  the  interposition  of  any  priests  or 
angels,  but  they  who  make  this  claim  to  possess 
more  information  than  the  majority  of  their  fellows 
are  simply  placing  themselves  in  the  ranks  of  what 
may  well  be  called  a  scientific  priesthood,  and  noth- 
ing is  more  self-evident  than  that  avowed  Rational- 
ists place  extreme  reliance  upon  the  authority  of 
great  names  and  point  to  scientific  discoveries  with 
immense  satisfaction,  though  they  were  made  by 
others  than  themselves. 

There  is  very  little  difi^erence  at  core  between  this 
attitude  and  that  of  the  most  confirmed  Theoso- 
phists,  for  the  latter  only  claim  that  their  authorities 
are  peculiarly  endowed  individuals  whom  they  term 
the   Elder   Brethren  of   our   race.      Recent   Theo- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     67 

sophical  publications  are  far  less  difficult  to  read 
and  understand  than  are  the  older  writings  of  the 
Alchemistical  Philosophers,  who  had  a  double  object 
for  concealing  the  inner  meaning  of  their  teaching 
within  a  cloak  of  hieroglyphical  symbology.  The 
"jargon  of  the  Mystics,"  as  this  allegorical  method 
has  been  vulgarly  termed,  was  rendered  necessary 
during  the  Middle  Ages  in  Europe  on  account  of 
the  ignorant  fanaticism  then  and  there  prevailing, 
for  without  the  employment  of  a  mystic  glyph  there 
would  have  been  no  safety  for  the  writers  and  also 
no  means  of  communication  between  fellow  stud- 
ents of  the  Mysteries.  We  glibly  speak  of  the  great 
discoveries  made  by  Bruno,  Galileo,  Herschel, 
Newton,  Kepler,  and  many  other  highly  endowed 
men  who  lived  but  a  few  centuries  ago,  and  we 
praise  them  none  too  highly  when  we  pay  glowing 
tributes  to  their  research  and  industry;  but  there  is 
no  valid  reason  for  continuing  to  assert  that  the 
heliocentric  system  of  astronomy  was  not  known 
long  ages  before  modern  Europe  was  a  liome  of 
learning.  We  are  far  too  apt  to  claim  some  monop- 
oly for  discovery  or  revelation,  which  always  covers 
a  much  larger  area  than  can  be  bounded  by  any 
special  time  or  place.  We  ought  now  to  be  ready 
to  recast  our  theories  concerning  the  spread  of 
religious  ideas  and  practices,  many  of  which  may 
have  sprung  up  simultaneously  in  different  parts  of 
the  world  instead  of  having  been  borrowed  by  one 
nation  from  another. 

Astronomers  in  their  observatories  need  not  make 
each  other's  acquaintance,  or  even  know  of  each 
other's  existence,  to  make  similar  observations  of 


68    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

celestial  phenomena,  for  it  is  quite  possible  that  dif- 
ferent men  in  various  places  at  the  same  time  may- 
be turning  their  eyes  to  the  heavens  and  watching 
the  same  celectial  panorama. 

The  Egyptian  and  Indo-Germanic  theories  of  the 
transit  of  religions  and  languages  have  often  been 
pitted  against  each  other  as  rival  candidates  for  uni- 
versal acceptance,  but  as  the  Atlantian  theory  is  very 
much  older  than  either,  we  may  find  in  it  a  very  fair 
solution  of  many  difficult  problems  which  a  less 
universal  theory  of  origins  will  fail  to  supply.  The 
kings  and  queens  of  very  ancient  days  may  have 
indeed  ruled  by  that  divine  right  of  individual 
qualification  for  supremacy  without  which  all 
nominal  rulership  is  the  next  thing  to  a  farce.  The 
Gods  and  Godesses  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome  are 
now  often  looked  upon  as  glorified  rulers  of  At- 
lantis, whose  memory  had  been  handed  down  with 
ever  increasing  glorification,  just  as  we  are  prone 
to  glorify  our  national  heroes  and  heroines  until 
from  a  basis  in  actual  history  we  construct  mental 
images  of  almost  divine  personages  whose  anniver- 
saries we  celebrate  as  public  holidays  and  whose 
memories  we  extol  so  highly  that  many  of  them 
shortly  become  saints  and  even  demigods  in  our 
esteem.  When  we  read  Homer's  Iliad  and  Odyssey 
we  are  at  once  impressed  with  the  very  earthly 
attributes  assigned  by  that  great  poet  to  the  divinities 
of  the  Pantheon.  Such  beings  as  are  therein  de- 
scribed are  so  entirely  human  in  all  their  feelings 
and  conduct  that  we  can  well  belive  that  their  ideal- 
ized existence  in  the  Empyrean  was  founded  on 
records  of  their  actual  life  on  earth,  a  conclusion 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     69 

easily  reached  by  all  who  know  how  firm  a  hold 
ancestor  worship  has  held  and  still  holds  upon  the 
hearts  and  minds  of  multitudes.  There  is  much 
more  that  is  historical,  and  consequently  much  less 
that  is  fabulous,  in  the  views  of  Mythologists  than 
many  of  us  have  been  brought  up  to  believe,  for  we 
are  now  experiencing  a  reaction  in  thought  from 
the  extremely  materialistic  views  which  for  many 
centuries  held  undisputed  sway  in  nearly  every 
Western  seat  of  learning.  So  dense  has  been  the 
darkness  in  which  college  professors  were  engulfed 
where  the  Classics  were  concerned,  and  so  relentless 
was  the  prejudice  against  Oriental  religions,  that  in 
every  European  university  students  were  taught  to 
believe  that  there  was  no  truth  whatever  in  the  relig- 
ious concepts  of  even  the  most  illustrious  Pagans, 
apart  from  some  concession  being  made  to  the  ex- 
cellence of  a  portion  of  their  moral  philosophy. 
Now  it  is  becoming  the  fashion  to  treat  the  pagan 
divinities  very  much  as  we  treat  the  Christian  saints, 
who  were  certainly  human  beings  with  an  actual 
earthly  career,  though  it  is  very  doubtful  whether 
such  narratives  as  we  find  in  the  "Lives  of  the 
Saints"  published  with  ecclesiastical  sanction,  could 
in  all  cases  be  verified  by  historic  scrutiny.  Our  own 
contemporaries  may  be,  some  of  them  at  least,  quite 
as  intelligent  and  also  quite  as  saintly  as  their 
greatly  revered  progenitors,  but  as  distance  always 
lends  enchantment  to  a  view,  we  are  rarely  if  ever 
anything  like  so  ready  to  canonize  those  who  are 
living  among  us  as  those  who  have  long  since 
departed  from  this  mortal  state.  There  are,  how- 
ever, four  distinct  elements  in  mythology  without 


yo     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

due  regard  to  which  we  are  unable  to  make  much 
progress  in  Biblical  and  Occult  research.  These 
are,  first,  Astronomical  and  Astrological ;  second, 
Historical  and  Biographical;  third.  Spiritualistic 
and  Idealistic;  fourth,  Esoteric  and  Intuitive.  We 
can  read  any  ancient  story  in  the  light  of  this  four- 
fold method  of  interpretation  without  doing  viol- 
ence to  reason  or  good  judgment,  for  we  must 
always  remember  that  there  were  no  cheap  printing 
presses  in  days  of  old  or  in  Classic  lands  making  it 
easy  for  every  item  of  unimportant  information  to 
be  recorded  in  a  daily  paper.  Scribes  in  olden  times 
were  exceptionally  capable  people  and  the  art  of 
writing  was  looked  upon  as  sacred,  therefore,  only 
the  very  important  events  in  the  life  of  the  people 
would  be  permanently  recorded,  and  that  portion  of 
their  literature  which  would  be  produced  on  well- 
nigh  imperishable  tablets  would  be  the  work  of 
those  exceptionally  learned  ones  to  whom  was  en- 
trusted the  custody  of  those  affairs  which  were 
generally  esteemed  as  of  the  highest  moment. 
Trivial  incidents  are  often  mentioned  but  not  for 
their  own  sake,  only  for  the  purpose  of  illustrating 
important  teachings  which  the  wise  men  gave  to 
their  students  through  the  agency  of  a  double 
cipher,  which  enabled  those  who  were  in  the  inner 
ring  of  the  students'  conclave  to  ascertain  the 
teachers'  esoteric  meaning,  while  all  outside  that 
consecrated  circle  would  only  hear  of  common-place 
events  of  no  exceptional  significance.  When  this 
fact  is  thoroughly  digested  and  we  consider  the  para- 
bolic teaching  still  universal  in  the  East,  our  examin- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     71 

ation  of  ancient  records  will  become  both  edifying 
and  fascinating  and  we  shall  be  able  to  escape  the 
Scylla  of  unreasoning  scepticism  and  also  the 
Charybdis  of  blind  unquestioning  belief  in  the  Div- 
ine authority  of  all  that  any  record  holds. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

VARIOUS   SPIRITUAIy   EI.EMENTS   IN   TH^   BIBI,^  AND 

civAssic  IvITe:rature:. 

In  that  highly  authentic  work  by  William 
Howitt,  ''The  History  of  the  Supernatural,"  that 
learned  and  painstaking  author,  whose  reverence 
for  the  Jewish  and  Christian  Scriptures  was  ex- 
tremely great,  justifies  his  employment  of  that  old- 
fashioned  theological  term, — now  frequently  super- 
seded by  the  far  simpler  word  superphysical,  in  the 
following  graphic  language:  ''The  author  of  this 
work  intends  by  the  supernatural  the  operation  of 
those  higher  and  more  recondite  laws  of  God  with 
which,  being  yet  but  most  imperfectly  acquainted, 
we  either  denominate  their  effects  miraculous,  or, 
shutting  our  eyes  firmly,  deny  their  existence  al- 
together. So  far  from  holding  that  what  are  called 
miracles  are  interruptions,  or  violations  of  the 
course  of  nature,  he  regards  them  only  as  the  re- 
sults of  spiritual  laws,  which  in  their  occasional 
action  subdue,  suspend,  or  neutralize  the  less  power- 
ful physical  laws,  just  as  a  stronger  chemical 
affinity  subdues  a  weaker  one,  producing  new  com- 
binations, but  combinations  strictly  in  accordance 
with  the  collective  laws  of  the  universe,  whether 

72 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     73 

understood  or  not  understood  by  us.  At  a  time 
when  so  many  objections  are  raised  to  portions  of 
the  Scripture  narrative,  which  unsettle  men's  minds 
and  haunt  them  with  miserable  forebodings,  the 
author  has  thought  it  of  the  highest  importance 
to  bring  into  a  comprehensive  view  the  statements 
of  the  most  eminent  historians  and  philosophers  of 
all  ages  and  nations  on  the  manifestations  of  those 
spiritual  agencies  amongst  them,  which  we,  for  want 
of  farther  knowledge,  term  supernatural."  This 
extremely  fertile  author  completely  fulfilled  his 
promise  to  his  readers  to  acquaint  them  with  well- 
nigh  universal  testimony  to  the  reality  of  spiritual 
occurrences  which  have  taken  place,  sometimes 
plentifully,  and  at  other  times  but  rarely,  in  every 
section  of  the  globe,  and  though  William  Howitt 
may  well  be  ranked  among  Christian  apologists  as 
well  as  among  Bible  elucidators,  he  was  an  im- 
compromising,  though  never  a  fanatical  or  un- 
reasoning, Spiritualist.  The  American  edition  of 
the  famous  English  book  to  which  we  are  now 
alluding  was  published  in  Philadelphia  in  1863,  by 
the  celebrated  firm  of  J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Co.,  at  a 
time  when  the  British  and  American  publics  were 
intensely  agitated  over  religious  scepticism  on  the 
one  hand  and  the  stupendous  claims  of  modern 
Spiritualists  on  the  other.  Had  it  not  been  for 
William  Howitt's  wide  and  high  reputation  al- 
ready achieved  in  literary  circles,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  his  explanations  of  Spiritualism  would 
have  excited  much  attention,  but  the  name  and  fame 
of  this  distinguished  author  were  unquestionably 
such  that  whatever  he  published  was  always  perused 


74     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

thoughtfully  by  intelligent  persons  in  all  stations. 
The  unique  value  of  such  a  treatise  is  in  the  light 
it  throws  upon  the  universality  of  spiritual  unveil- 
ings.  How  the  claimant  for  exclusive  revelation  can 
derive  any  satisfaction  from  so  broad  a  testimony 
we  are  at  a  loss  to  see,  but  to  the  student  of  Sacred 
Literature  in  general,  rather  than  of  a  single  vol- 
ume, the  extent  of  territory  covered  in  the  narrative 
must  prove  thoroughly  welcome  as  well  as  enor- 
mously enlightening.  Good  and  evil  spirits  are 
acknowledged  in  all  records  of  spiritual  intercom- 
munion during  modern  as  well  as  ancient  days,  but 
by  ''evil"  is  never  corectly  meant  ''hopelessly  de- 
praved," for  the  unanimous  testimony  of  all  truly 
enlightened  teachers  in  all  climes  and  ages  has  been 
in  complete  condemnation  of  the  hideous  doctrine 
of  endless  and  useless  suffering  and  its  boon  com- 
panion, total  depravity.  These  nightmares  of  false 
theology  have  never  received  support  or  sanction  at 
the  hands  of  any  illuminated  teachers,  and  it  is  quite 
safe  to  aver  that  there  never  was  a  really  enlightened 
spiritual  teacher  on  earth  at  any  time  who  endorsed 
the  garbled  misinterpretations  of  Sheol,  Gehenna, 
Tartarus,  and  other  Hebrew  and  Greek  terms  for 
states  of  post-mortem  purification,  which  are  found 
either  in  the  Bible  or  in  the  Classics.  But  however 
true  the  statements  may  be  that  "the  door  of  reform- 
ation is  never  closed"  and  that  "the  pathway  of  pro- 
gress lies  eternally  unobstructed  before  every  human 
soul," — as  certain  Spiritualist  Societies  declare  that 
it  does, — such  an  affirmation  by  no  means  disposes  of 
the  darker  aspects  of  spirit-communion,  though  it 
does  suggest  to  us  a  reasonable  attitude  to  take 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     75 

toward  those  "dwellers  on  the  threshold"  who  are 
frequently  mistaken,  by  credulous  persons,  for  some 
mighty  angelic  beings  who  are  supposed  to  be  amaz- 
ingly advanced  along  the  path  of  progress.  We 
cannot  curtly  dismiss  the  doctrine  of  ''obsession," 
disagreeable  though  its  contemplation  may  be,  with 
the  mere  snap  of  a  contemptuous  finger,  but  if  dark 
as  well  as  bright  unseen  influences  are  around  us, 
whether  we  know  that  such  is  the  case  or  whether 
we  are  ignorant  thereof,  we  may  rest  well  assured 
that  the  incessant  operation  of  the  undeviating  law 
of  spiritual  affinity  must  ever  be  the  factor  which 
determines  the  class  of  influences  to  which  we  yield, 
and  this  same  law  must  inevitably  at  all  times 
regulate  our  closest  psychic  intimacies.  "I  will  fear 
no  evil,"  says  the  composer  of  the  twenty-third 
psalm,  a  phrase  which  would  be  meaningless,  did  the 
word  *'evil"  convey  no  meaning  to  its  employer's 
mind.  Good  and  evil  are  to  our  understanding 
relative,  not  absolute  terms.  Absolutely  there  can 
be  no  evil  but  relatively  all  discord  or  disease  is  evil, 
while  all  harmony  or  health  is  good.  This  concept 
is  so  entirely  universal  that  in  all  lands  and  through 
all  ages  the  demonstrated  healing  of  the  sick, 
through  some  ordinarily  uncomprehended  agency, 
has  furnished  satisfactory  proof  that  the  operating 
intelligence  was  of  beneficient  character.  Among 
Jews  and  Romans  alike  this  test  was  considered  quite 
conclusive  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  and 
all  through  the  following  centuries,  including  the 
present,  the  same  idea  has  remained  so  widely  pre- 
valent that  works  of  healing  are  always  triumph- 
antly referred  to  as  evidences  of  the  holy  source 


"jd    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

whence  mysterious  abilities  are  derived.  "Can  a 
devil  open  the  eyes  of  the  blind?"  is  a  question  just 
as  pertinent  to-day  as  when  propounded  in  the  time 
of  Jesus.  Miracles  of  healing  are  only  performable 
by  magicians  of  the  "white"  variety;  those  of  the 
"black"  order  can  produce  genuine  manifestations 
of  many  dubious  kinds;  they  can  startle  but  they 
cannot  heal,  because  healing  being  a  work  of  har- 
monizing is  not  within  the  range  of  rites  perform- 
able by  those  who  live  in  discord,  and  as  the  great 
divide  between  Leucomancy  and  Necromancy,  i.  e., 
between  light-dispensing  and  death-dealing  magic, 
is  that  the  former  is  always  operated  with  benign- 
ant and  the  latter  with  malign  intent,  it  is  not  very 
difficult  to  discriminate  intelligently  between  a 
righteous  Spiritualism  and  an  unrighteous  Sorcery. 
At  this  point  many  would-be  Bible  interpreters  have 
appeared  almost  insanely  blind,  for  even  in  this  day 
we  often  read  reports  of  sermons  against  Spiritual- 
ism displaying  such  crass  ignorance  on  the  part  of 
the  preacher  that  we  know  full  well  that  nothing  but 
blear-eyed  prejudice  or  sheer  stupidity  could  have 
allowed  such' utterances  to  pass  as  "gospel  preach- 
ing" when  we  all  know  "gospel"  is  a  synonym  for 
good  news  and  joyful  tidings.  It  is  indeed  an  im- 
portant part  of  a  prophetic  ministry  to  warn  the 
unwary  against  dangers  which  lurk  in  their  path, 
often  unseen  and  unsuspected,  but  there  are  but 
two  ways  in  which  such  warning  can  be  profitably 
given;  one  being  to  counsel  the  highest  moral  in- 
tegrity and  the  other  to  recommend  firm  develop- 
ment of  individuality,  neither  of  which  good  pur- 
poses can  possibly  be  served  by  diatribe  and  the 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations,     yy 

hopeless  confounding  of  things  which  radically 
differ.  It  must  certainly  be  frankly  admitted  that 
there  are  many  statements  in  various  parts  of  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  fiercely  condemnatory  of  Baby- 
lonian magical  arts  as  they  were  practiced  during 
the  Jewish  Captivity,  and  it  was  almost  immediately 
after  the  return  of  the  Jews  to  Palestine  that  there 
arose  great  prophets  in  Israel  who  strongly  urged 
upon  the  people  an  immediate  recantation  of  their 
errors  and  an  instant  return  to  the  pure  monotheism 
which  was  from  the  very  first  the  pride  and  glorv 
of  Israel.  No  doubt  there  are  many  passages  in 
various  portions  of  the  Bible  which  can  be  so  con- 
strued as  to  make  it  appear  that  every  form  of 
divination  was  condemned  by  the  prophets  in  the 
name  of  Cod,  but  if  so  strained  an  interpretation 
be  placed  on  doubtful  passages,  what  can  we  say 
concerning  Joseph  and  his  divining  cup  which  was 
found  in  the  sack  of  his  younger  brother  Benjamin, 
when  this  same  Joseph  was  held  up  for  admiration 
as  a  true  prophet  and  one  through  whose  gracious 
influence  famine  was  averted  in  Egypt  and  his  own 
brethren,  despite  their  cruelty  to  him  in  his  youth, 
most  hospitably  received  and  kindly  treated  in  the 
time  of  their  necessity?  What  can  we  say  concern- 
ing Samuel  who  was  not  only  clairaudient  in  child- 
hood but  grew  up  to  be  a  mighty  prophet,  one  to 
whom  the  people  resorted,  and  never  in  vain,  for 
wise  direction  in  times  of  difficulty;  and  what  in- 
deed concerning  a  whole  host  of  prophets  who  were 
all  diviners  in  some  respects  but  who  righteously 
adhered  to  the  moral  law  and  only  employed  divin- 
ation  for  honorable   and   praiseworthy   ends.      It 


78     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

surely  needs  no  unusual  acumen  to  discriminate 
between  prophesy  and  witchcraft,  seeing  that  the 
original  of  the  word  witch  means  one  who  exerts 
unholy  spells  with  malicious  purpose,  a  practice  not 
entirely  absent  from  the  ranks  of  unscrupulous 
persons  in  the  present  day.  No  matter  whether  the 
spells  worked  or  not,  the  true  prophets  of  every 
age  and  people  have  entiely  condemned  every 
practice  actuated  by  any  desire  to  work  injury  upon 
man  or  beast,  and  they  have  also  condemned  all 
those  highly  objectionable  methods  resorted  to  in  the 
Babylonian  Empire  which  had  for  their  object 
entering  into  communion  with  unseen  beings 
through  the  arts  of  necromancy,  which  were  so  en- 
tirely different  from  all  respectable  Spiritualistic 
practices  that  it  is  manifestly  unfair  to  in  any  way 
confound  them.  We  hear  a  good  deal  about  "malic- 
ious mesmerism,"  and  much  else  that  is  uncanny 
when  the  inner  workings  of  some  modern  societies 
are  divulged  and  one  party  undertakes  to  criminate 
another,  and  though  it  is  a  very  open  question  how 
far  such  charges  can  ever  be  substantiated,  we 
have  a  right  to  set  our  faces  very  decidedly  against 
all  endeavors  to  misuse  any  occult  agency  with 
which  we  may  be  familiar.  Nothing  can  well  be 
more  weird  and  despicable  than  to  endeavor  to  per- 
vert telepathy  or  mental  telegraphy  to  the  base  end 
of  harming  someone  against  whom  we  feel  resent- 
ment ;  but  on  the  other  hand  we  can  readily  see  how 
truly  kindhearted  may  be  the  action  of  benevolent 
and  conscientious  people  who  give  what  they  term 
"absent  mental  treatments"  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
assisting  others  to  gain  or  to  recover  health  and  to 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     79 

rise  superior  to  all  sorts  of  temptations  and  difficult- 
ies. The  cry  of  danger  is  sure  to  be  raised  in  some 
quarters  whenever  the  mysterious  is  mentioned,  and 
the  faint-hearted  are  very  readily  alarmed  at  any 
cry  of  'Volf ,"  no  matter  by  whom  that  cry  is  raised ; 
but  we  should  like  to  inquire  of  those  alarmists,  who 
are  always  prating  of  real  or  imaginary  dangers, 
whether  they  know  of  any  domain  in  the  whole  wide 
field  of  scientific  and  mechanical  progress  in  which 
there  is  no  danger  Let  calamity-howlers  and 
other  scarecrowists  be  consistent  and  they  must  of 
necessity  warn  us  against  the  use  of  steam,  electric- 
ity, and  every  other  appliance  of  civilization,  and 
they  must  also  veto  every  advance  in  the  art  of 
navigation,  especially  that  of  the  air,  because  of  the 
perils  actually  encountered  by  sailors  and  aviators. 
We  have  no  right  to  suppose  that  we  are  entirely 
immune  from  danger  until  we  have  reached  the 
height  attained  only  by  great  adepts  in  any  line  of 
enterprise,  but  such  elevated  conditions  have  never 
been  reached  by  cravens ;  only  the  strong  and  the 
brave  are  fitted  to  scale  the  heights  on  which  now 
stand  the  triumphant  heroes  whose  motto  is  ever- 
more Excelsior. 

Alluding  again  to  the  work  of  William  Howitt 
we  can  easily  follow  him  in  his  daring  assertions 
that  miracle  is  *'the  eternal  heritage  of  the  church," 
but  let  us  always  remember  that  the  Latin  word 
miraciihim  only  means  something  wonderful  be- 
cause unexplained,  though  not  inexplicable.  People 
marvel  greatly  whenever  they  witness  anything  they 
fail  to  comprehend,  but  if  they  use  their  reason 
thev  do  not  therefore  attribute  it  either  to  jugglery 


8o    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

or  diablerie.  A  great  mass  of  testimony  has  recently 
been  collected  proving  that  works  of  healing  similar 
to  those  described  of  old  are  now  taking  place  among 
us,  some  of  them  within  the  pale  of  organized 
churches,  but  very  many  entirely  outside  of  all 
recognized  organizations.  Christian  Scientists  and 
other  would-be  monopolists  of  the  healing  power 
may  well  point  with  satisfaction  to  their  own 
successes,  but  they /can  have  no  right  wahtever  to 
claim  that  they  alone  are  gifted  with  power  to  heal, 
or  that  similar  wonders  wrought  by  people  outside 
their  ranks  are  due  to  "malicious  magnetism"  or 
some  other  scarecrow  which  they  have  trumped  up 
in  the  interests  of  their  monopoly.  There  are  very 
good  people  within  the  ranks  of  all  parties,  who 
because  of  their  earnestness  and  faith  do  truly 
accomplish  wonders,  but  no  single  denomination 
or  institution  whether  it  be  a  church  or  a  school, 
has  a  shred  of  evidence  to  support  its  bombastic 
claim  if  ever  it  attempts  to  prove  that  it  alone  is 
a  repository  of  divine  grace  or  healing  energy. 
The  power  to  heal  has  ever  been  regarded  as  both 
a  divine  gift  and  a  scientific  attainment,  and  far 
from  these  ideas  being  mutually  exclusive  they  are 
in  complete  accord,  the  thought  of  a  divine  gift 
referring  properly  to  our  inward  containment,  and 
scientific  skill  to  the  results  of  human  industry 
making  use  of  the  gifts  latent  within  us.  No  one 
can  read  that  portion  of  the  Book  of  Exodus  which 
recounts  the  tale  of  Moses  and  Aaron  on  one  side, 
and  Pharaoh's  magicians  on  the  other,  without  at 
once  discerning  that  the  narrator  considered  it  a 
self-evident  proof  that  Moses  and  Aaron  were  under 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.    8i 

the  patronage  of  heaven,  while  the  emissaries  of  the 
King  of  Egypt  received  no  divine  sanction,  because 
the  former  could  and  did  heal  the  sick,  while  the 
latter  with  their  enchantments  could  only  add  to  the 
sufferings  of  afflicted  men  and  animals.  Whatever 
those  wonders  were  which  preceded  the  outgoing  of 
Israel  from  Egypt,  they  were  certainly  considered 
by  Josephus  and  other  eminent  historians  as  clench- 
ing the  matter  in  favor  of  the  Hebrews,  seeing  that 
they  possessed  among  them  prophetic  leaders  who 
could  disarm  all  antagonism  and  triumph  over  every 
obstacle  by  supplying  those  credentials  which  were 
always  demanded  in  ancient  times  of  all  who  pre- 
sumed to  speak  to  the  nations  as  divine  ambassa- 
dors. We  may  well  claim  that  there  are  phases  of 
spiritual  healing,  such  as  the  reformation  of 
character,  much  more  important  from  an  ethical 
standpoint  than  even  the  removal  of  the  most 
serious  bodily  distempers ;  but  all  the  varied  works 
of  healing  recorded  in  ancient  and  modern  scrip- 
tures seem  manifestly  to  proceed  from  a  single 
central  source.  That  beautiful  modern  classic,  "Ben 
Hur,"  by  Lew  Wallace,  very  clearly  portrays  the 
world-wide  and  age-long  feeling  that  every  divinely 
inspired  messenger  must  accomplish  some  real  good 
to  humanity  in  more  than  one  direction:  and  the 
higher  the  station  and  the  greater  the  power  of  the 
messenger  in  question,  the  mightier  must  be  the 
miracles  accomplished ;  therefore  it  is  quite  harmon- 
ious with  universal  sentiment  in  this  regard  to  select 
a  case  of  two  lepers  who  were  healed  by  a  Master 
when  they  placed  implicit  confidence  in  him,  and 
thereby  availed  themselves  of  his  healing  potency. 


82     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

All  mere  wonders  which  simply  excite  surprise  and 
apparently  benefit  no  one,  carry  no  manifest  creden- 
tials with  them;  they  may  be  "wheat"  or  they  may 
be  "tare,"  and  until  they  have  proved  themselves  by 
their  effects,  we  have  no  right  to  judge  them  defin- 
itely; but  whenever  actual  good  is  accomplished  we 
are  stupid  indeed  if  we  do  not  attribute  it  to  a  bene- 
volent origin,  and  our  position  is  equally  absurd  if 
we  refuse  condemnation  to  practices  of  any  sort 
which  bring  disaster  in  their  train.  We  must  use 
our  reason  concerning  miracles  just  as  we  use  it  in 
the  ordinary  affairs  of  life,  judging  trees  by  the 
fruit  they  bear,  and  when  this  test  is  faithfully  and 
universally  applied  we  shall  no  longer  stumble  blindly 
as  of  yore  over  approbations  and  prohibitions  en- 
countered in  the  Bible  or  elsewhere.  It  would  be  a 
very  interesting  story,  though  a  very  long  one,  to 
consider  the  full  significance  of  all  the  names  ascribed 
to  the  various  characters  in  the  Bible,  and  in  other 
Sacred  Books,  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  as  far  as 
possible,  the  esoteric  bearing  of  these  many  peculiar 
titles,  at  the  same  time  paying  particular  attention 
to  the  purposeful  changing  of  names,  either  by 
enlargement  of  the  number  of  syllables,  or  by  com- 
plete alteration.  The  modern  world  is  becoming 
greatly  interested  in  nomenclature,  and  many  are 
the  classes  held  in  London,  New  York,  and  other 
influential  cities  for  the  study  of  name  values. 
What's  in  a  name?  is  a  very  serious  question  in  the 
esteem  of  many  present-day  enquirers  into  esoteric 
mysteries,  and  when  we  take  into  account  the  very 
large  amount  of  interest  now  taken  in  astrology 
among  highly  intelligent  people,  we  are  quite  ready 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     83 

to  actively  revive  all  that  is  innocent  and  useful  in 
the  methods  of  divination  practised  by  the  Ancients. 
In  that  remarkable  treatise  *'Art  Magic"  presented 
to  students  of  Spiritism  and  Occultism  by  Emma 
Hardinge  Britten,  in  1876,  and  more  recently  dis- 
tributed widely  through  the  enterprise  of  that  singu- 
larly comprehensive  weekly  paper,  "The  Progressive 
Thinker,"  of  Chicago,  we  read  of  many  sorts  of 
divination  which  the  author  regards  as  highly  re- 
pulsive to  refined  feelings,  though  by  no  means 
unworthy  of  attention  from  the  standpoint  of  re- 
search into  the  possible  amount  of  control  which 
highly  trained  ascetics  may  gain  over  their  sub- 
jugated material  organisms.  With  such  harsh  and 
repulsive  methods  as  those  practised  by  Hindu 
Fakirs  and  Mohammedan  Dervishes  do  not  care 
to  deal,  as  their  frantic  rites  are  not  the  ceremonies 
performed  by  the  refined  Esoteric  Confraternities, 
who  studiously  cultivate  a  love  of  the  beautiful  and 
the  wholesome,  and  of  naught  beside.  In  the 
ancient  temples  of  Greece  and  Rome,  as  well  as  of 
Egypt  and  India,  there  were  many  various  arts  of 
divination  practised,  ranging  from  the  sublime  to 
the  disgusting,  not  indeed  all  at  one  time  in  any 
single  class  of  temples,  but  at  different  periods,  and 
to  some  extent  at  the  same  time  also,  by  different 
bodies  of  practitioners.  Just  as  there  are  many 
highly  variant  schools  of  religion  and  medicine  in 
the  leading  countries  of  the  world  to-day,  so  was 
such  the  case  in  lands  and  ages  of  antiquity,  and 
such  it  has  continued  to  some  extent  at  all  times 
everywhere.  Divination  by  examination  of  the 
entrails  of  slaughtered  animals  was  very  common 


84    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

in  the  Roman  Empire,  and  though  this  was 'not 
a  truly  refined,  it  was  not  an  altogether  abominable 
practise,  as  animals  were  killed  for  food,  as  they  are 
still,  and  after  the  breath  has  left  the  body  there  is 
no  crime  in  examining  the  carcass ;  nevertheless  we 
must  always  remember  that  the  most  lucid  seers  were 
vegetarians  who  would  utterly  refuse  to  have  any 
part  in  the  slaying  of  animals  or  birds  and  to  whom 
contact  with  a  corpse  would  be  intolerable.  These 
pure-minded  and  exceptionally  refined  Sensitives 
of  old  were  the  seers  and  seerese"s  through  whose 
instrumentality  oracular  teachings  were  given  which 
won  for  the  Schools  of  the  Prophets,  wherever  such 
were  established,  a  reputation  for  immediate  con- 
tact with  veritable  divinities.  The  atrocious 
practices  of  vivisectors  and  other  flagrant  violators 
of  natural  order  may  bring  about  certain  psychical 
results  of  a  highly  detrimental  character,  but  never 
can  brutal  outrages  on  man  or  beast  result  in  any 
other  sort  of  consequences,  in  the  long  run,  than  the 
fate  which  invariably  overtakes  every  "black  magi- 
cian." That  exquisite  story  of  Parsifal,  known  to  all 
music-lovers  as  the  grandest  of  all  modern  operas, 
sets  forth,  with  unmistakable  lucidity,  the  exact  dis- 
tinction between  the  contradictory  varieties  of  magic 
symbolically  designated  "white"  and  "black." 
Parsifal  becomes  a  prince  among  Adepts,  worthy  to 
be  the  Supreme  Head  of  the  Knights  of  the  Holy 
Grail,  only  after  his  fierce  encounter  with  Kling- 
sor,  which  resulted  in  the  complete  destruction  of  a 
palace  of  necromancy.  Kundry,  at  one  time  a 
servant  of  the  Knights  and  at  another  time  a  slave 
to  Klingsor,  previous  to  her  final  deliverance  by 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     85 

Parsifal,  is  a  good  illustration  of  an  unbalanced 
sensitive,  liable  at  any  time  to  be  swayed  by  a  tem- 
porarily predominating  influence.  When  as  a 
guileless  youth  Parsifal  goes  forth  with  bow  and 
arrow  and  thoughtlessly  slays  a  sacred  swan,  he  is 
reprimanded  sharply  by  Gurnemanz,  a  guardian  of 
a  sacred  enclosure,  and  henceforth  the  lad  shoots  no 
more  birds.  At  that  moment  when  he  accepts  re- 
proof and  resolves  to  live  by  a  higher  rule  than  the 
ordinary  he  has  "entered  the  Path,"  and  is  verily 
on  the  mystic  road  to  eventual  adepthood.  We  can- 
not too  forcibly  insist  that  the  great  difference  be- 
tween the  state  of  the  simple  Medium  and  that  of 
the  Adept,  is  that  the  former  is  subject  to  the  sway 
of  varying  external  influences,  while  the  latter  has 
learned  the  art  of  psychic  navigation  and  can  there- 
fore determine  what  influences  shall  or  shall  not 
sway  him.  Amfortas,  a  weak  (and  therefore  incom- 
petent) Leader  of  the  Knights,  must  resign  his 
office  to  a  stronger  and  worthier  successor.  When 
Parsifal  ascends  the  throne  he  instantly  heals  the 
wound  of  his  afflicted  predecessor  by  touching  it 
with  the  Sacred  Spear,  which  Amfortas  had  lost 
during  an  unsuccessful  struggle  with  Klingsor,  and 
which  Parsifal  had  recovered  at  the  end  of  an 
equally  sharp  encounter  with  the  necromancer,  a 
battle  which  ended  in  the  complete  destruction  of  a 
dangerous  institution  of  iniquity.  No  story  illus- 
trates more  fully  than  Parsifal  the  magical  anti- 
podes, for  on  the  one  side  we  find  the  spirit  losing 
to  the  flesh  and  on  the  other  the  spirit  triumph- 
ing over  it ;  and  again,  on  the  one  hand  a  vacillating 
woman  subjugated  to  the  ends  of  evil,  and  on  the 


86     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

other  hand  that  same  woman  rescued  and  strength- 
ened and  adapted  henceforward  to  gladly  serve,  in 
perfect  freedom,  the  cause  of  righteousness. 

The  curious  story  of  the  Witch  of  Endor  is  one 
of  those  Bible  narratives  which  have  given  rise  to 
endless  controversy  by  reason  of  the  highly  in- 
volved nature  of  the  narrative  itself,  for  it  is  by  no 
means  clear  that  that  extraordinary  woman  was  an 
untruthful  or  disagreeable  personage,  though  King 
Saul,  by  no  means  a  model  monarch,  had  put  all 
women  of  her  class  under  the  ban  of  his  displeasure. 
There  is  no  moral  lesson  taught  by  endorsing  the 
popular  clerical  view  that  Saul  committed  a  great 
sin  by  consulting  this  woman,  rather  is  the  moral  of 
the  story  to  be  found  in  the  statement  that  neither 
she,  nor  the  spirit  of  Samuel  whom  Saul  invoked, 
could  save  him  from  the  consequences  of  his  own 
long-continued  disobedience  to  divine  'direction. 
Samuel  had  long  and  often  remonstrated  with  Saul 
and  urged  him  to  turn  from  iniquity  to  righteous- 
ness, but  the  obstinate  king  persistently  and  steadily 
refused  to  heed  the  prophet's  admonitions,  and  to 
such  a  pass  had  he  brought  his  own  condition  by 
long-continued  obduracy  that  at  length  it  became  too 
late  for  him  to  retrieve  his  fallen  fortunes ;  thus  it 
was  all  in  vain  that  he  strove  to  gain  an  interview 
with  the  departed  Samuel  who,  great  prophet  though 
he  was,  had  no  power  to  save  the  transgressor  from 
from  the  accumulated  consequences  of  his  now  ripe 
trangressions.  There  are  crises  in  all  histories,,  both 
personal  and  national,  and  when  a  harvest  is  ready 
for  the  sickle  it  is  then  too  late  to  endeavor  to  avert 
the  result  of  what  has  culminated  in  a  conspicuous 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     87 

output.  We  must  take  the  consequences,  painful  and 
bitter  though  they  may  be,  just  as  on  the  other  hand, 
when  we  have  acted  wisely  and  righteously,  we  can- 
not escape  the  blissful  effects  of  our  long-continuing 
harmonious  activity.  Up  to  a  certain  point  we  are 
all  free  to  change  our  course  of  action,  but  when 
certain  seeds  have  already  matured  and  trees  are 
already  in  fruit,  though  we  may  resolve  that  our 
next  harvest  shall  be  a  very  different  one,  we  cannot 
avert  the  immediate  doom  which  now  confronts  us. 
The  oracles  and  sybils  connected  with  all  ancient 
temples  were  accustomed  to  warn  their  clients  of 
impending  catastrophes,  and,  if  we  may  place  any 
reliance  on  history,  their  warnings  were  often  useful 
in  helping  those  who  consulted  them  to  avoid  con- 
tinuance in  a  path  of  danger ;  but  sometimes  the  con- 
suitor  of  the  oracle  arrived  too  late  to  take  advan- 
tage of  that  benevolent  seership,  which  when  resorted 
to  in  season  saved  many  from  falling  over  psychic 
precipices.  The  woman  at  Endor  (who  is  not  a 
witch  in  the  original  but  only  a  clairvoyant)  told 
Samuel  that  she  saw  with  him  in  spirit  a  form 
which  he  recognized  as  Samuel,  but  she  had  no 
power  to  induce  this  spirit  to  answer  to  her  de- 
mands. That  very  fine  drama,  "The  Shepherd 
King,"  in  which  the  highly  gifted  actor,  Wright 
Lorimer,  has  starred  so  successfully,  gives  a  version 
of  this  Biblical  incident  wonderfully  convincing  and 
strikingly  in  accordance  with  the  purest  esoteric 
teaching.  In  that  superb  play,  the  woman  in  her 
cave  declares  she  has  no  power  to  summon  Samuel, 
but  he  appears  to  Saul  entirely  of  his  own  volition, 
a  perfectly  reasonable  conclusion  if  we  take  into 


88    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

account  the  obvious  fact  that  the  prophet  would  be 
in  a  spiritual  condition  far  superior  to  that  of  any 
possible  familiar  spirit  who  might  be  at  the  beck  and 
call  of  any  ancient  seeress  or  modern  medium. 
Moses  Hull,  a  prominent  American  Spiritualist, 
pointed  out  very  clearly  in  many  of  his  lectures  and 
writings  that  the  word  "witch"  was  only  among 
those  headings  of  the  chapters  in  the  King  James 
Version  of  the  Bible  which  were  manufactured 
about  1611,  nowhere  in  the  text  itself  even  in  that 
particular  version.  Nothing  can  be  more  ridiculous 
than  to  declare  that  because  there  were  laws  against 
witchcraft  three  hundred  years  ago  in  England  that 
therefore  every  woman  accused  of  witcheries,  re- 
gardless of  place  or  conditions,  was  other  than 
respectable.  Samuel  Putnam  wrote  a  fine  history 
of  witchcraft  in  New  England  in  which  he  proved 
conclusively  to  all  fair-minded  readers  that  at 
Salem,  Massachusetts,  and  in  several  other  places 
in  America  fanatical  Puritans  condemned  to  death, 
after  having  committed  to  torture,  many  innocent 
victims  of  their  insane  intolerance  not  many  cen- 
turies ago.  The  original  object  of  legislation 
against  witchcraft  may  have  been  entirely  praise- 
worthy, as  it  was  evidently  intended  to  effectually 
discountenance  all  unholy  practices  having  for  their 
object  human  injury,  but  we  all  know  how  very 
quickly  well-intentioned  legislation  can  become  per- 
verted in  the  hands  of  unreasoning  bigots  and  other 
unscrupulous  persons  who  never  hesitate  to  attrib- 
ute the  foulest  crimes  to  those  who  have  incurred 
their  personal  displeasure.  Probably  there  were 
women,  and  men  also,  in  ancient  days  who  "peeped 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     89 

and  muttered,"  and  by  the  aid  of  vile  incantations 
endeavored  to  bring  misery  upon  their  victims,  and 
such  there  may  be  to-day;  but  wholesale  condem- 
nation of  entire  classes  of  people  is  always  unjust 
and  utterly  irrational.  Wheat  and  cockle  grow 
together  in  all  fields,  and  it  often  needs  far  more 
than  average  insight  to  discriminate  between  them 
until  a  time  of  harvest;  it  therefore  becomes  us, 
when  reviewing  ancient  records,  and  especially  when 
dealing  with  events  in  our  own  day,  to  give  the 
benefit  of  a  doubt  wherever  uncertainty  prevails. 
Of  one  thing  we  may  rest  thoroughly  assured,  viz., 
that  the  universe  is  not  regulated  in  so  insane  a 
manner  as  to  permit  devils  to  lure  the  unwary  to 
destruction,  while  angelic  ministry  is  beyond  the 
reach  of  humanity.  Whatever  is  true  of  the  his- 
tory of  Israel  is  equally  true  of  other  nations,  and 
whatever  could  and  did  occur  in  days  of  old  is  also 
possible  at  this  moment.  We  only  learn  a  moral 
lesson  when  recounting  the  experiences  of  the  past, 
if  the  recital  thereof  inspires  us  to  heroic  resolve 
to  devote  all  our  energies,  along  all  the  lines  of  our 
activity,  to  the  great  threefold  object  worthy  of  all 
noble  men  and  women :  The  discovery  of  truth ;  the 
diffusion  of  truth;  the  application  of  truth  to  the 
needs  of  humanity.  With  this  spiritual  amulet  in 
our  possession,  we  carry  with  us  a  potent  magnet  to 
attract  celestial  forces  and  an  efficient  safeguard 
against  all  hosts  of  darkness. 


CHAPTER  V. 

CREATION    LEGENDS — HOW    ANCIENT   IS    HUMANITY 
ON    THIS    PI.ANET? HINDU    CHRONOIvOGY. 

It  seems  scarcely  necessary  at  this  period  to  tell 
any  fairly  well-informed  persons  that  the  first  two 
chapters  of  Genesis  were  never  regarded  as  literal 
history  by  any  students  of  esoteric  doctrine,  and  we 
can  readily  believe  the  testimony  of  Swedenborg 
to  the  effect  that  records  of  very  ancient  ''Churches" 
prove  conclusively  that  in  times  of  old  narratives 
regarded  as  specially  sacred  were  all  believed  to  con- 
tain an  interior  meaning  with  which  the  uninitiated 
may  have  been  unfamiliar,  but  which  was  the  only 
meaning  with  which  spiritual  teachers  were 
concerned. 

The  iconoclasm  of  Thomas  Paine,  Volney,  Vol- 
taire, and  other  famous  writers  of  a  revolutionary 
and  reactionary  period,  did  yeoman  service  in  the 
cause  of  intellectual  liberty,  but  it  was  no  part  of 
their  mission  to  unfold  interior  meanings  or  call 
attention  to  the  spiritual  agreement  which  can  now 
be  traced,  thanks  to  modern  critical  research, 
between  all  the  Scriptures  venerated  by  different 
sections  of  humanity.  It  was  really  not  earlier  than 
1893,  in  America,  and  then  chiefly  by  reason  of  the 

90 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     91 

Parliament  of  Religions  held  in  Chicago,  in  con- 
nection with  the  World's  Fair,  that  the  masses  of 
the  people  began  to  take  a  really  live  interest  in 
Comparative  Religion,  and  even  then,  during  the 
seventeen  days  of  the  September  of  that  memorable 
year  in  which  the  Congress  assembled,  there  were 
many  pious  people  of  fossilized  convictions  who 
were  quite  shocked  at  the  idea  of  ''heathen"  Orien- 
tals being  invited  to  proclaim  their  "idolatrous"  doc- 
trines on  the  same  platforms  with  Christian  minis- 
ters. But,  to  the  credit  of  many  distinguished 
representatives  of  the  largest  Christian  denomina- 
tions, be  it  recorded  that  they  treated  the  Asiatic 
delegates  extremely  well,  and  though  it  cannot  be 
truthfully  asserted  that  that  memorable  gathering 
resulted  in  completely  breaking  down  all  barriers  of 
prejudice  between  East  and  West,  it  is  no  exaggera- 
tion to  aver  that  since  that  great  historical  event 
there  has  been  far  less  ignorance  and  bitterness  dis- 
played by  opposing  religious  systems  than  before 
that  momentous  gathering.  True  it  is  that  some  few 
Americans  were  so  carried  away  by  the  picturesque- 
ness  of  Oriental  costumes  and  the  fascinating  per- 
sonality of  some  of  the  Oriental  Swamis,  and  other 
speakers  at  the  Congress,  that  they  were  received 
into  the  Buddhistic  or  some  other  Asiatic  religious 
fold,  but,  for  the  most  part,  no  proselyting  was 
either  accomplished  or  attempted.  The  more  inti- 
mately acquainted  we  become  with  differing  reli- 
gious systems,  the  less  need  do  we  imagine  for  going 
over  from  one  to  another,  seeing  that  they  all  mani- 
fest defects  as  well  as  excellences,  and  we  are  not 
likely  to  find  all  our  ideals  realized  in  any  system. 


\ 


92    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

The  chief  value  of  the  research  we  are  now  attempt- 
ing is  an  endeavor  to  pierce  external  crusts  of  myth- 
ology and  arrive  at  some  reasonable  and  instructive 
views  of  the  universe  in  which  we  are  abiding.  The 
number  seven  has  always  been  regarded  as  particu- 
larly sacred  by  all  peoples  of  antiquity,  and  the 
reason  for  this  is  to  be  found  in  Nature,  entirely 
apart  from  human  fancy.  The  seven  hues  of  the 
Rainbow,  the  seven  notes  in  the  Musical  Scale,  and 
many  other  equally  universal  examples  may  be  given 
of  the  prominence  of  seven.  The  seven  "Days,'* 
or,  more  correctly.  Periods,  of  Creation  enumerated 
in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  agree  substantially 
with  similar  enumerations  in  other  and  older  Scrip- 
tures, and  when  we  turn  to  Swedenborg's  "Arcana 
Coelestia"  for  exposition,  we  find  that  he  informs 
us  that  they  have  nothing  necessarily  to  do  with 
external  history,  and  that  it  makes  no  difference 
what  facts  may  be  disclosed  through  geology,  the 
spiritual  truth  conveyed  in  the  Pentateuch  remains 
unchallenged.  This  strong  position  was  finely  eluci- 
dated and  upheld  by  the  scholarly  Dr.  Bayley,  for 
many  years  minister  of  the  New  Jerusalem  Church 
in  Kensington,  which  was  largely  attended  by  ear- 
nest people  who  clung  to  the  spiritual  meaning  of 
the  Bible,  while  they  followed  their  highly  gifted 
pastor  gladly  in  his  many  and  wide  pulpit  excur- 
sions into  scientific  fields.  "The  Divine  Word 
Opened"  is  the  title  of  Dr.  Bayley's  best  known 
book,  which  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and 
thought-provoking  volumes  of  sermons  anywhere 
procurable.  Such  works  as  this  deserve  much  wider 
reading  than  they  usually  receive,  for  it  is  certainly 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     93 

lamentable  to  note  the  crass  ignorance  of  the  Bible 
still  largely  prevalent  among  would-be  expositors. 
Just  as  it  has  been  truly  said  that  no  one  can 
really  understand  any  single  language  without 
some  familiarity  with  several  tongues,  so  is  it  also 
true  that  no  one  can  duly  appreciate  any  Creation 
Legend  without  an  outline  acquaintance  with  sev- 
eral. The  seven  Great  Ages  of  the  Earth  must  be 
seven  vast  periods,  agreeing  far  more  nearly  with 
Oriental  than  with  Occidental  chronology;  but  no 
chronological  element  necessarily  enters  into  the  ear- 
liest parts  of  Genesis.  The  first  word  in  the  Hebrew 
Torah,  herashith,  is  commonly  rendered  in  English 
"in  the  beginning,"  a  phrase  which  has  no  necessary 
reference  either  to  time  or  place,  but  is  equivalent 
to  "at  the  starting-point."  GOD  (Elohim)  is  said 
to  be  the  author  of  all  that  is  produced,  and  as  the 
author  is  declared  to  be  entirely  good,  the  results  of 
Divine  activity  are  pronounced  likewise  good.  "And 
GOD  saw  that  it  was  good,"  is  a  sentence  several 
times  reepated,  referring  to  the  goodness,  each  in  its 
own  degree,  of  the  various  orders  of  existence  which 
appeared  on  earth  before  the  advent  of  Humanity, 
and  no  matter  what  opinions  any  one  may  entertain 
concerning  the  second  and  following  chapters  of 
Genesis,  the  first  chapter  leaves  no  doubt  in  the 
minds  of  unprejudiced  readers  that  the  original  tra- 
dition narrated  in  the  Bible  concerning  human  origin 
declares  men  and  women  to  be  a  simultaneous  crea- 
tion. Let  any  child  be  given  the  first  account  alone, 
and  then  questioned  as  to  what  it  relates,  that  child 
is  certain  to  say  that  men  and  women  were  created 
together. .   Gnostic  or  Theosophical  commentators 


94    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

may  undertake  to  discourse  upon  some  original  crea- 
tion antedating  the  complete  materialization  of 
human  frames,  and  such  disquisitions  are  always 
interesting  and  thought-exciting,  though  to  many 
minds  they  appear  incapable  of  demonstration.  Pre- 
existence  is  taught  in  all  Bibles,  and,  as  the  vener- 
able Dr.  J.  M.  Peebles,  and  other  modern  Spiritual- 
ists of  learning  and  experience  have  stoutly  main- 
tained, there  can  be  no  evolution  of  aught  that  is 
not  involved.  Monkeys  cannot  beget  men,  though 
the  Simian  race  may  have  existed  on  this  planet  long 
before  the  human.  Esoteric  teaching  is  to  the  effect 
that  every  type  which  appears  on  earth  comes  from 
a  spiritual  typal  germ,  a  doctrine  far  more  compre- 
hensible than  the  foundationless  assertions  of 
Materialists,  who  give  us  no  foundation  whatever 
for  their  atheistic  dogmatism.  Many  scholars  are 
confessedly  agnostic;  but  agnosticism  postulates 
nothing  definitely  concerning  human  origin. 

A  truly  wonderful  exposition  of  Genesis  has 
reached  us  from  the  inspired  and  fertile  pen  of 
Erastus  Gaffield,  a  gentleman  of  high  literary  attain- 
ments and  social  standing,  who  has  written,  under 
spiritual  influence,  several  very  instructive  books, 
among  which  ''The  Past  Revealed"  deserves  dis- 
tinctive pre-eminence.  In  that  remarkable  treatise 
we  find  it  stated  that  "Before  the  existence  of 
inhabitable  conditions  upon  the  earth,  there  were, 
as  now,  many  planets  in  the  universe,  where  only 
rudimentary  conditions  of  life  prevailed,  inhabited 
by  beings  in  various  stages  of  evolutionary  progress, 
by  multitudes  who  had  attained  only  very  circum- 
scribed powers  of  reason,  a  limited  control  over 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     95 

weak  and  imperfectly  developed  mental  faculties, 
which  but  partially  reflected  the  intuitions  of  spirit, 
and  which  could  not  have  been  used  for  the  investi- 
gation of  the  laws  of  cosmic  creation,  evolution,  or 
other  scientific  facts,  nor  for  the  teaching  of  ethical 
precepts."  ''From  such  very  primitive  conditions, 
after  having  acquired  an  understanding  of  certain 
inherent  principles  of  the  Law,  graduations  some- 
times occurred.  Many  aspiring,  intuitive  ones,  hav- 
ing realized  certain  degrees  of  spiritual  understand- 
ing, and  having  passed  out  of  their  physical  bodies, 
entered  into  celestial  states  of  existence  where  larger 
opportunities  were  afforded  for  acquiring  knowl- 
edge of  the  divine  principles  of  the  Law,  and  for  a 
more  perfect  realization  of  spiritual  aspirations. 
Such  needed  not  further  experiences  upon  material 
planes.  Vast  multitudes,  however,  required  and 
sought  new  experiences  in  physical  states,  and  with- 
out them  could  have  made  Ixit  litle  progress  in  the 
accomplishment  of  destiny.  Therefore  it  may  be 
said  that  the  'beginning'  referred  to  in  the  first  verse 
of  Genesis  relates  to  the  molding  of  the  plastic  ele- 
ments afore-existent  in  space,  into  conditions 
adapted  to  the  production  of  such  things  as  physical 
beings  would  require  when  they  should  appear,  who, 
at  first  though  manifesting  only  very  rudimentary 
states  of  intellectual  perception,  would  have  certain 
natural  wants,  such  as  air  to  breathe,  water  to  drink, 
and  food  to  eat.  The  text  in  no  way  relates  to  the 
calling  into  existence  of  original  elements  concern- 
ing which  no  one  can  conceive  a  possible 
explanation." 

The  first  immigrants  to  earth  came  without  mate- 


g6    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

rialized  forms,  after  having  accomplished  missions 
in  other  planets,  while  incarnated  in  bodies  adapted 
to  conditions  there  prevailing.  They  came  gladly 
hither  as  to  a  new  Golconda,  where  they  hoped  to 
achieve  important  victories  over  the  elements  and  to 
realize  spiritual  and  material  progress  when  condi- 
tions should  permit  them  to  again  assume  material 
bodies."  This  author  then  goes  on  to  inform  us  that 
those  districts  of  the  earth  were  first  inhabited  which 
possesed  climates  similar  to  those  of  the  planets 
from  which  the  immigrants  from  other  worlds  had 
come.  *'The  regions  of  the  far  north  were  first 
inhabited  by  physical  humanity.  Here  for  unnum- 
bered ages  lived  a  race,  small  in  stature,  given  to 
the  chase,  without  knowledge  of  many  refinements 
subsequently  realized  in  latitudes  further  south, 
peacefully  inclined,  the  representatives  of  an  order 
or  condition  of  life  like  unto  that  which  their  prede- 
cessors had  evolved  in  other  planets.  It  may  be 
stated  that  the  destruction  of  life-possibilities  upon 
the  moon,  and  the  formation  of  inhabitable  condi- 
tions upon  the  earth,  were  coeval."  Much  teach- 
ing regarding  the  "I<unar  Pitris"  is  to  be  found  in 
Theosophical  literature,  and  it  seems  to  be  the  gen- 
eral teaching  of  those  who  claim  to  know  something 
of  the  immense  antiquity  of  the  human  race  that 
there  was  life  on  the  moon  before  this  earth  was 
ready  for  human  inhabitation.  Nothing  could  be 
easier  than  to  endorse  the  famous  Robet  Ingersoll's 
alleged  "mistakes  of  Moses"  did  we  believe  that  the 
letter  of  Genesis  was  intended  to  be  taken  altogether 
literally,  but,  judging  it  in  the  light  thrown  upon  it 
by  comparison  with  other  ancient  records,  we  regard 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     97 

all  such  iconoclastic  ridicule  as  undeserved  and  also 
utterly  unscholarly.  But  as  Ingersoll  was  a  popular 
lecturer,  expected  to  entertain  as  well  as  to  instruct, 
and  moreover  as  some  kinds  of  ignorant  theology 
are  quite  as  ridiculous  as  he  made  them  out  to  be, 
the  name  of  Ingersoll  endures  as  that  of  a  champion 
of  the  right  of  free  thought  and  free  enquiry,  with- 
out which  no  arrival  at  truth  is  ever  possible. 

We  will  now  direct  attention  to  Hindu  traditions 
concerning  the  age  of  the  world  and  human  origin. 
These  appear  highly  extravagant  to  many  readers, 
on  account  of  the  immense  periods  which  they  desig- 
nate to  a  year,  and  it  seems  incredible  that  we  can 
estimate  the  extent  of  ages  with  such  complete  pre- 
cision. However,  it  is  not  impossible  that  there 
may  be  somewhere  carefully  preserved  records 
which  largely  justify  even  the  astounding  affirma- 
tions of  Baba  Premanand  Bharati  in  his  decidedly 
beautiful  book,  '*Sree  Krishna;  the  Lord  of  Love," 
in  which  he  undertakes  to  present  to  English  read- 
ers ''the  history  of  the  Universe  from  its  birth  to 
its  dissolution."  The  author  says  that  in  the  course 
of  his  treatise  he  has  explained  "the  science  of  crea- 
tion, its  making  and  its  mechanism,  according  to 
information  derived  from  the  recorded  facts  in  the 
sacred  books  of  the  Root-Race  of  Mankind."  This 
is  declared  to  be  ^the  doctrine  of  true  Hinduism. 
The  enthusiastic  writer  tells  us  that  if  we  read  this 
record  with  an  open  mind  it  will  grant  us  illumina- 
tion and  solve  many  a  riddle  of  life  and  untie  many 
a  tangle  of  thought.  The  following  quotation  from 
the  preface  clearly  sets  forth  in  highly  condensed 
phrase  the  entire  substance  of  the  Hindu  Doctrine: 


98    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

"The  belief  that  our  life  begins  with  the  birth  of 
this  physical  body  and  ends  with  its  death,  is  the 
worst  superstition,  because  it  is  the  worst  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  our  soul's  unfoldment.  This  life  has 
sprung  from  Eternity;  it  draws  its  breath  in  Eter- 
nity and  is  finally  absorbed  by  Eternity,  which  is 
Absolute  Love.  To  think  that  we,  human  beings, 
were  never  blessed  with  greater  powers  than  we  pos- 
sess in  this  age  is  the  saddest  of  mistakes.  To 
believe  that  we  were  once  as  great  and  powerful  as 
Divine  beings,  and  that  we  can  recover  that  great- 
ness and  those  powers,  is  to  believe  in  the  actual  po- 
tentialities of  the  human  mind.  This  life  can  be 
made  one  long  ecstatic  song,  this  life  can,  if  we  take 
the  trouble  to  make  it,  be  made  a  source  of  joy  to 
ourselves  as  well  as  to  all  around  us  forever  and 
ever;  it  can  even  attain  to  the  Essence  of  Godhood, 
from  which  it  has  sprung,  by  developing  uninter- 
ruptedly God-consciousness. 

"We  are  all  idolators.  Some  of  us  worship  idols 
of  Divinity,  others  woship  idols  of  Matter.  Some 
of  us  worship  the  Spirt  through  suggestive  signs  and 
symbols;  others  worship  Flesh.  Since  our  mind 
wants  idols  for  worship,  just  as  our  body  wants  food 
for  sustenance,  let  us  all  worship  idols  of  Spirit  in 
Form.  Through  its  concrete  Form-Center  we  can 
enter  into  the  Abstract  Spirit  of  Love — Love  which 
is  our  one  object  and  goal  in  life.  This  Love  is 
Krishna,  and  the  universe,  and  we,  its  parts,  are  the 
materialized  manifestaions  of  that  Love."  Baba 
Bharati  may  well  tell  us  that  when  we  peruse  his 
writings  we  are  reading  a  book  of  purely  Eastern 
thought  clothed  in  pure  Eastern  dress,  for  without 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     99 

this  explanation,  we  should  be  at  a  loss  to  under- 
stand the  foregoing  eulogy  of  idolatry ;  but  when  we 
know  that  in  the  Orient  the  equivalent  of  our  word 
idol  simply  means  any  manifestation  of  life  which 
we  can  symbolize,  and  therefore  in  some  measure 
comprehend,  as  soon  as  we  grasp  the  Hindu  writer's 
meaning  we  can  readily  sympathize  with  the  clear 
and  sharp  line  of  demarkation  he  has  drawn  between 
idols  of  spirit  and  idols  of  flesh.  But  it  is  with  the 
ages  of  the  world  that  we  are  now  particularly  con- 
cerned. These  are  styled  Gold,  Silver,  Copper,  and 
Iron.  The  Golden  Age  lies  far  back  in  antiquity, 
and  is  said  to  have  lasted  4,800  Divine  years,  each 
of  which  contains  360  of  our  years ;  thus  the  entire 
length  of  the  Golden  Age  must  have  amounted  to 
1,728,000  of  our  years,  which  may  well  be  imagined 
as  the  extent  of  a  geological  epoch.  This,  according 
to  Hindu  tradition,  was  the  most  spiritual  age,  and  it 
is  claimed  that  gold  literally  abounded  during  that 
remote  period.  Let  us  now  remember  that  in  the 
Book  of  Genesis  we  are  told  of  gold  as  abounding  in 
the  whole  land  of  Havilah,  which  is  said  to  be 
watered  by  the  river  Pison.  The  word  Havilah 
means  to  bring  forth  and  to  supply  strength ;  thus 
we  may  readily  see  some  striking  connection  between 
the  Oriental  traditions  now  exhibited  to  our  gaze  by 
Asiatic  visitors  to  Europe  and  America  and  the  ref- 
erences to  remote  antiquity  found  in  the  early 
Hebrew  legends.  The  Silver  Age,  following  immedi- 
ately upon  the  Golden,  is  said  to  have  lasted  for  3,000 
Divine  years  —  that  is,  1,080,000  human  or  lunar 
years.  Hindu  chronology  always  calls  Divine  years 
Solan  and  earthly  years  Lunar,  because  we  count 


loo    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

our  months  by  the  movements  of  the  moon  and 
reckon  our  calendar  from  a  purely  geocentric  stand- 
point. During  the  Silver  Age  occurred  the  Fall  of 
humanity  mentioned  in  the  Bible.  This  event  is 
described  by  Hindu  teachers  as  being  due  to  the 
attraction  of  the  Unreal.  During  the  Golden  Age  it 
is  said  that  humanity  knew  nothing  but  Truth,  but 
in  the  Silver  Age  they  became  led  astray  by  decep- 
tive appearances,  and  fell  from  original  purity  by 
confounding  the  illusory  with  the  real.  Our  fall  con- 
sists in  the  fact  that  we  become  so  attached  to  the 
unreal  that  we  cannot  leave  it,  though  we  know  it  to 
be  unreal.  All  the  ages  have  their  Twilight  and  their 
Daylight  periods,  suggesting  very  nearly  the  various 
Evenings  and  Mornings  mentioned  in  the  Penta- 
teuch. The  life  of  the  Silver  Age,  though  not  so 
beautiful  as  that  of  the  Golden  Age,  was  neverthe- 
less in  many  respects  quite  delightful,  and  it  is  not 
till  we  come  to  the  Copper  Age  that  we  read  any- 
thing in  Hindu  literature  of  ferocious  beasts  or 
warlike  people.  The  length  of  the  Copper  Age  is 
estimated  at  2,000  Divine  years,  equal  to  720,000 
human  years.  The  Iron  Age  carries  us  to  the  very 
depths  of  human  ferocity  and  degradation,  and  out 
of  this  we  are  now  happily  emerging  to  a  very  much 
higher  condition,  as  we  are  now  rounding  the  curve 
and  passing  out  from  a  Dark  Age  into  one  of  much 
greater  brilliancy. 


.  CHAPTER  VI. 

EGYPT    AND   ITS   WONDERS:    LITERALLY   AND    MYSTI- 
CALLY CONSIDERED. 

*'Out  of  Egypt  have  I  called  my  Son."  In  this 
highly  significant  and  important  Scripture  phrase 
we  are  introduced  to  far  more  than  simply  an  his- 
torical allusion;  at  the  same  time,  the  historical 
information  suggested  is  of  great  interest  and  value. 
Though  in  a  very  special  sense  a  land  of  great  anti- 
quity, Egypt  is  also  a  modern  country,  which  is 
attracting  ever-increasing  multitudes  of  fascinated 
students,  as  well  as  tourists,  who  find  in  the  Delta 
of  the  Nile  almost  nwre  to  excite  their  curiosity,  and 
also  to  repay  diligent  research,  than  in  any  other 
district  usually  included  within  the  itinerary  of 
popular  travel.  Though  there  are  thousands  of 
interesting  things  to  be  seen  in  Egypt,  the  object  of 
supremest  interest  is  the  Great  Pyramid  at  Gizeh, 
which  is  well  called  a  miracle  in  stone.  Many  of 
our  readers  have  doubtless  read  that  large  and 
learned  work,  *'Our  Inheritance  in  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid," by  Prof.  Piazzi  Smyth,  for  many  years  As- 
tronomer Royal  of  Scotland,  but  as  that  work 
abounds  with  elaborate  mathematical  calculations, 
and  is  also  written  from  the  standpoint  of  a  certain 
type  of  dogmatic  theology,  it  has  never  served  to 

101 


ro2    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

give  a  broad  general  view  of  the  object  for  which 
this  mighty  structure  was  erected,  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  it  contains  a  vast  amount  of  extremely 
valuable  information.  Prof.  Smyth  maintains  that 
in  order  to  account  successfully  for  this  mighty  edi- 
fice, we  must  attribute  to  it  an  actually  divine  origin, 
for  he  contends  that  the  architect  was  none  other 
than  Melchisedec,  by  far  the  most  mysterious  char- 
acter mentioned  in  the  Bible,  concerning  whom  it 
is  related  that  he  was  a  priest  of  the  Most  High 
God,  also  a  King  of  Salem,  and  it  is  also  stated 
that  he  had  neither  father  nor  mother,  beginning 
of  days  nor  end  of  life.  Such  statements  cannot 
refer  to  any  ordinary  human  being,  but  they  do 
have  reference  to  human  immortality,  and  they  also 
refer  in  some  incidental  sense  to  a  mighty  Order  of 
Adepts  who  exist  upon  earth  in  unending  succession 
from  age  to  age.  These  highly  illumined  Masters 
were  undoubtedly  the  great  rulers  in  ancient  times, 
under  whose  benign  sway  the  land  of  Egypt  was 
at  one  time  the  chief  center  of  civilization  upon 
earth,  or  at  least  one  of  the  great  head  centers 
whence  knowledge  was  distributed  to  many  other 
lands.  The  Great  Pyramid  differs  widely  from  all 
other  pyramids  in  its  interior  arrangements,  though 
it  closely  resembles  them  all  in  its  outward  construc- 
tion, as  all  are  built  on  a  common  ground  plan  and 
all  may  be  regarded  as  ancient  temples,  in  many  of 
which  the  bodies  of  distinguished  people  were  doubt- 
less buried,  for  the  practice  of  burying  the  bodies 
of  notable  men  in  temples  of  worship  is  of  imme- 
morial antiquity.  But  all  the  pyramids,  save  this 
most  imposing  one,  are  elaborately  adorned  both 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     103 

within  and  without  with  all  manner  of  emblems 
and  inscriptions,  the  Great  Pyramid  alone  being 
perfectly  devoid  of  all  embellishment.  This  fact  in 
itself  very  largely  justifies  the  positive  declaration 
of  Prof.  Smyth,  and  many  other  learned  men  who 
largely  coincide  with  him,  that  this  unique  struc- 
ture has  memorialized  through  all  succeeding  cen- 
turies, a  purely  spiritual  religion  which  flourished 
in  ancient  Egypt  surrounded  by  popular  forms  of 
idolatry.  The  Great  Pyramid  is  well  regarded  as 
a  massive  Masonic  Temple  carrying  us  back  to  a 
period  in  human  history  when  the  astronomical  re- 
ligion of  the  ancient  world  was  stated  and  preserved 
in  fanes  of  superb  architecture  which  were  built 
according  to  the  exact  principles  of  mathematics 
and  geometry,  requiring  no  ornamentation  to  en- 
force doctrines  or  to  portray  the  ceremonies  for 
which  these  structures  stood,  as  abiding  and  well- 
nigh  indestructible  monuments.  The  most  curiously 
interesting  theory  which  we  have  ever  encountered 
is  that  elaborated  by  Albert  Ross  Parsons  in  his  ex- 
traordinary book,  "New  Light  from  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid," which  declares  that  it  was  built  to  commem- 
orate a  great  cosmic  catastrophe,  an  idea  thoroughly 
familiar  to  the  many  readers  of  "Atlantis,"  by  Ig- 
natius Donnelly,  who  maintains  that  long  before  the 
great  Island-Continent  was  finally  overwhelmed  by 
the  ocean  (between  11,000  and  12,000  years  ago), 
it  had  already  entered  upon  its  declining  period,  dur- 
ing which  certain  great  teachers  from  that  enlight- 
ened land  went  to  Egypt  and  established  there  the 
beginnings  of  a  vast  Atlantian  Colony.  Such  a 
theory  will  make  the  great   Pyramid  very  much 


I04     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

older  than  the  date  given  for  its  erection  by  Prof. 
Smyth,  who  traces  it  only  to  2170  B.  C,  when 
Alpha  Draconis  was  Polar  Star.  But  as  the  phe- 
nomenon known  as  the  procession  of  the  equin- 
oxes is  accomplished  every  grand  cycle,  which  occu- 
pies about  25,840  years,  it  is  quite  easy  to  admit 
that  the  Great  Pyramid  may  be  fully  30,000  years 
old.  A  very  singular  book  on  this  intensely  inter- 
esting subject  was  issued  in  California  by  an  author 
named  McCarthy,  in  which  a  claim  is  raised  that 
this  wonderful  structure  is  between  50,000  and 
60,000  years  of  age ;  but  in  all  cases  the  astronomical 
phenomenon  referred  to  remains  the  same.  With 
the  age  of  the  Pyramid  we  need  not  greatly  concern 
ourselves,  but  in  the  object  of  its  construction,  and 
the  mysteries  celebrated  within  its  walls,  we  may 
well  take  active  interest.  Though  there  are  many 
among  modern  Freemasons  who  place  no  great  re- 
liance upon  very  ancient  traditions  concerning  the 
Masonic  Craft,  many  other  Masons,  among  them 
men  of  wide  research  and  profound  learning,  de- 
clare  that  there  is  abundant  evidence  in  support  of 
the  most  venerable  traditions.  Among  gifted  au- 
thors who  have  treated  of  this  subject  in  popular 
style,  Rev.  Chas.  H.  Vail,  author  of  "The  Ancient 
Mysteries  and  Modern  Masonry,"  ranks  conspicu- 
ously high.  This  very  liberal-minded  minister,  for 
a  long  time  pastor  of  Pullman  Memorial  Church, 
Albion,  N.  Y.,  has  furnished  us  with  an  enormous 
amount  of  evidence  wonderfully  condensed  in  a 
portable  volume  issued  by  the  Macoy  Publishing 
and  Masonic  Supply  Company,  New  York.  Con- 
cerning the  Egyptian  mysteries  he  has  quoted  from 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.    105 

a  number  of  distinguished  writers,  all  of  whom 
testify  to  substantially  the  view  taken  in  that  curi- 
ous book,  "Art  Magic,"  which  contains  a  section 
on  the  Great  Pyramid  which  we  herewith  substan- 
tially reproduce  in  abbreviated  language  of  our  own. 
The  author  of  that  singular  treatise  does  not  pre- 
sume to  speak  dogmatically,  but  very  modestly  heads 
the  section  "The  Great  Pyramid  of  Egypt — Its 
Possible  Use  and  Object."  The  chapter  is  headed 
with  a  hieroglyphic  entitled  "Man,  the  Microcosm 
of  the  Universe."  This  is  a  double  triangle  with 
a  human  figure  at  its  center.  At  the  left  side  of 
the  apex  of  the  ascending  triangle  is  the  word 
Macrocosmos;  at  the  right-hand  side  of  the  apex 
of  the  descending  triangle  is  written  Microcosmos. 
At  the  right  side  of  the  apex  of  the  ascending  tri- 
angle is  printed  Dragon's  Head,  and  on  the  left  side 
of  the  apex  of  the  descending  triangle  Dragon's 
Tail,  illustrated  by  their  well-known  astrological 
emblems.  The  letter  U  (the  original  form  of  the 
horseshoe  inverted)  is  represented  on  the  left  side 
of  the  horizontal  line  drawn  through  the  middle  of 
the  figure,  and  the  same  letter  inverted  (making  the 
familiar  form  of  the  horseshoe)  at  the  right  ex- 
tremity of  this  line.  Students  of  astrology  will 
at  once  recognize  that  such  a  frontispiece  to  a 
treatise  on  the  Great  Pyramid  is  intended  to  con- 
vey to  every  reader  that  the  structure  itself  was 
built  to  embody  the  sublime  sciences  mathematics, 
geometry,  astronomy  and  astrology,  which  were  re- 
garded as  the  very  foundations  of  all  true  science, 
philosophy  and  religion  by  the  truly  enlightened  in 
days  of  old.     Those  who  search  Egyptian  records 


io6    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

profoundly,  and  thereby  learn  to  decipher  the  real 
meaning  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  can  never  fall  into 
the  error  of  supposing  that  it  was  either  a  granary 
or  a  tomb,  but,  speaking  Masonically,  a  veritable 
stone  rejected  by  modern  builders  but  in  reality 
"the  head  of  the  corner."  The  vulgar  supposition, 
still  entertained  by  many  writers  and  travelers  (and 
frequently  hurled  at  public  audiences  by  lecturers 
who  entertain  us  with  travelogues),  that  all  the 
pyramids,  including  the  greatest,  were  burial-places 
for  the  bodies  of  kings,  and  that  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid contains  the  remains  of  Cheops,  is  probably 
due  to  the  fact  that  that  inspiring  object,  the  lid- 
less  Sarcophagus  in  the  Grand  Gallery,  resembles 
a  tomb;  this  has  led  them  through  their  ignorance 
of  ancient  symbolism  and  the  rites  of  initiation 
performed  in  ancient  temples,  to  mistake  this  emble- 
matical and  ceremonial  laver  of  regeneration  for  a 
literal  coffin  in  which  a  dead  body  had  at  one  time 
lain,  but  from  which  it  must  have  at  some  time 
been  removed,  for  it  is  certainly  not  there  now. 
Prof.  Smyth  has  clearly  shown  that  the  body  of 
Cheops  was  buried  in  the  vicinity  of  the  pyramid, 
but  nobody  was  interred  within  its  walls.  But  even 
had  a  body  been  buried  within  this  mighty  struc- 
ture, such  a  fact  would  no  more  supply  evidence 
that  the  building  was  primarily  intended  for  a 
place  of  sepulture,  and  not  for  a  mighty  temple, 
than  the  fact  of  many  interments  in  Westminster 
Abbey  and  many  other  famous  churches,  would 
prove  that  they  were  intended  only  as  tombs  becailse 
the  bodies  of  many  illustrious  men  repose  beneath 
their  pavements. 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     107 

As  a  Temple  to  the  great  and  glorious  Central 
Sun  of  our  Universe,  Alcyone  of  the  Pleiades,  the 
Great  Pyramid  is  comprehensible,  for  the  only  en- 
trance being  on  the  north  side,  has  convinced  all 
astronomers  who  have  visited  it  that  it  was  de- 
signed for  astronomical  purposes ;  and  we  must  never 
forget  that  astronomy  and  astrology  were  insepar- 
able from  the  religious  concepts  and  ceremonies  of 
the  learned  among  all  ancient  nations.  The  total 
absence  of  all  inscriptions,  both  within  and  with- 
out, distinguish  this  unique  pyramid  from  its  nu- 
merous companions,  of  which  there  are  over  fifty 
in  the  near  vicinity.  The  populace  in  ancient  Egypt, 
as  well  as  in  Persia,  Assyria,  India,  and  all  other 
mighty  lands  renowned  in  ancient  song  and  story, 
employed  animal  and  vegetable  forms  to  typify  their 
spiritual  ideas  and  to  furnish  them  with  appropriate 
aids  to  contemplation  while  engaging  in  religious 
exercises,  but  none  of  these  objects  were  employed 
by  those  whose  ideas  were  of  the  utmost  sublimity 
and  to  whom  the  regular  order  of  Nature,  and 
especially  the  march  of  the  constellations,  not  only 
suggested  but  definitely  revealed  the  universal  Cos- 
mic Process.  To  these  mighty  minds  nothing  less 
than  a  Temple  erected  according  to  the  plan  of  the 
heavens,  as  far  as  they  could  possibly  discover  it, 
would  suffice  to  satisfy  their  religious  aspirations 
and  at  the  same  time  afford  them  the  observatory 
they  needed,  in  which  to  carry  forward  their  con- 
tinuous and  elaborate  astronomical  calculations.  The 
Spiritual  Sun,  not  the  physical  orb  we  see,  was  the 
central  object  of  veneration  among  these  great 
Adepts  of  antiquity,  and  it  is  to  this  day  among  the 


io8     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

most  enlightened  Brahmins  and  all  others,  in  India 
and  elsewhere,  who  have  preserved  intact  the  earliest 
and  purest  of  all  the  combined  systems  of  natural 
and  revealed  religion  originally  communicated  to 
humanity  by  those  wise  and  powerful  guardians  of 
our  race  who  are  known  by  various  names  and 
titles  among  the  different  schools  of  Theosophists 
scattered  over  the  whole  earth.  It  is  in  the  19th 
chapter  of  Isaiah  that  Bible  students  will  find  the 
clearest  and  most  copious  references  to  the  Great 
Pyramid,  according  to  the  conclusions  of  many 
learned  astronomers  who  have  also  devoted  much  at- 
tention to  Biblical  testimony.  In  that  wonderful 
chapter  we  are  told  that  there  is  an  altar  to  the 
Lord  and  a  pillar  of  witness  in  the  land  of  Egypt, 
and  a  pillar  at  the  border  thereof  to  the  Lord  (verse 

19). 

From  Stewart's  erudite  work  on  "Solar  Wor- 
ship," the  author  of  "Art  Magic"  culled  the  follow- 
ing intensely  interesting  facts:  "It  is  important  not 
to  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  formerly  the  history 
of  the  heavens,  and  particularly  of  the  sun,  was 
written  under  the  form  of  the  history  of  men,  and 
that  the  people  almost  universally  received  it  as  such, 
and  looked  upon  the  hero  as  a  man.  The  tombs 
of  the  gods  were  shown,  as  if  they  had  really  ex- 
isted; feasts  were  celebrated,  the  object  of  which 
seemed  to  be  to  renew  every  year  the  grief  which 
had  been  occasioned  by  their  loss.  Such  was  the 
tomb  of  Osiris,  covered  under  those  enormous 
masses  known  as  pyramids,  which  the  Egyptians 
raised  to  the  star  which  gives  us  light.  One  of 
these  has  its  four  sides  facing  the  cardinal  points 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     109 

of  the  world.  Each  of  these  fronts  is  no  fathoms 
wide  at  the  base,  and  the  four  form  as  many  equi- 
lateral triangles.  The  perpendicular  height  is  sev- 
enty-seven fathoms,  according  to  the  measurement 
given  by  Chazelles  of  the  (French)  Academy  of 
Sciences.  It  results  from  these  dimensions  and 
the  latitude  under  which  this  pyramid  is  erected, 
that  fourteen  days  before  the  Spring  equinox,  the 
precise  period  at  which  the  Persians  (and  others) 
celebrated  the  revival  of  nature,  the  sun  would 
cease  to  cast  a  shade  at  midday,  and  would  not  again 
cast  it  until  fourteen  days  after  the  Autumnal 
equinox.  Then  the  day,  or  the  sun,  would  be  found 
in  the  parallel  or  circle  of  the  Southern  declension, 
which  answers  to  5  deg.  1 5  min. ;  this  would  hap- 
pen twice  a  year — once  before  the  Spring  and  once 
after  the  Autumnal  equinox.  The  sun  would  then 
appear  exactly  at  midday  upon  the  summit  of  this 
pyramid;  then  his  majestic  disc  would  appear  for 
some  moments,  placed  upon  this  immense  pedestal, 
and  seem  to  rest  upon  it,  while  his  worshipers,  on 
their  knees  at  its  base,  extending  their  view  along 
the  inclined  plane  of  the  Northern  front,  would  con- 
template the  great  Osiris — as  well  when  he  de- 
scended into  the  darkness  of  the  tomb  as  when  he 
arose  triumphant.  The  same  might  be  said  of  the 
full  moon  of  the  equinoxes  when  it  takes  place  in 
this  parallel.  It  would  seem  that^  the  Egyptians, 
always  grand  in  their  conceptions,  had  executed  a 
project  (the  boldest  ever  imagined)  of  giving  a 
pedestal  to  the  sun  and  moon,  or  to  Osiris  and  Isis ; 
at  midday  for  one,  and  at  midnight  for  the  other, 
when  they  arrived  in  that  part  of  the  heavens  near 


no    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

to  which  passes  the  line  which  separates  the  North- 
ern from  the  Southern  hemisphere;  the  empire  of 
good  from  that  of  evil;  the  region  of  light  from 
that  of  darkness.  They  wished  that  the  shade 
should  disappear  from  all  the  fronts  of  the  pyramid 
at  midday,  during  the  whole  time  that  the  sun  so- 
journed in  the  luminous  hemisphere;  and  that  the 
Northern  front  should  be  again  covered  with  shade 
when  night  began  to  assert  supremacy  in  our  hemi- 
sphere— i.e.,  at  the  moment  when  Osiris  descended 
into  hell.  The  tomb  of  Osiris  was  covered  with 
shade  nearly  six  months,  after  which  light  sur- 
rounded it  entirely  at  midday,  as  soon  as  he,  re- 
turning from  hell,  regained  his  empire  in  passing 
into  the  luminous  hemisphere.  Then  he  had  re- 
turned to  Isis  and  to  the  God  of  Spring,  Horus-, 
who  had  at  length  conquered  the  genius  of  dark- 
ness and  winter.     What  a  sublime  idea!" 

Prof.  Smyth  has  made  a  great  deal  of  the  per- 
fect standard  for  weights  and  measures  which  is 
found  in  the  Great  Pyramid,  and  he  draws  particu- 
lar attention  to  the  Sacred  Cubit  which  measures 
exactly  twenty-five  inches,  in  contradistinction  from 
the  ''profane"  cubit  in  common  use  among  the  Egyp- 
tians, which  measures  a  fraction  over  twenty-six 
inches.  This  fact  of  only  the  "sacred"  cubit  being 
employed  throughout  the  Great  Pyramid  goes  far 
to  prove  that  it  is  not  actually  an  Egyptian,  but.  a 
truly  universal  structure,  designed  to  perpetuate 
those  profound  mysteries  which,  though  they  have 
been  celebrated  in  Egypt,  were  never  confined  to 
any  special  country.  Though  it  is  quite  rational  to 
insist  that  literal  commercial  transactions  can  be 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     Ill 

equitably  balanced  only  by  the  adoption  of  a  world- 
wide standard  of  perfectly  accurate  weights  and 
measures,  these  external  business  matters  are  en- 
tirely subservient  to  the  sublime  spiritual  purpose 
for  which  the  lidless  sarcophagus  in  the  Grand  Gal- 
lery was  designed.  Here  again  a  quotation  from 
"Art  Magic"  will  prove  illuminating :  "A  better  un- 
derstanding of  the  profound  heights  of  metaphysical 
speculation  in  which  the  Oriental  mind  employed 
itself  would  have  shown that  this  vast  edi- 
fice was  designed  as  a  sky  and  earth  metre,  and  that 
the  huge  problem  of  scientific  discoverers,  the  mys- 
tic, lidless,  wholly  unornamented,  uninscribed  cof- 
fer, in  the  midst  of  the  vast  unornamented  and 
uninscribed  chamber,  was  not  intended  as  a  model 
for  all  generations  of  succeeding  corn  and  seeds- 
men, but  as  a  sarcophagus  for  living  men,  for  those 
Initiates  who  were  there  taught  the  solemn  prob- 
lems of  life  and  death,  and  through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  that  very  coffer  attained  to  that  glorious 
birth  of  the  Spirit — that  second  birth  so  signifi- 
cantly described  by  the  great  Hierophant  of  Naza- 
reth when  he  answered  those  who  came  to  enquire 
of  him  by  night,  saying:  'Except  a  man  be  born 
again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God.'  The 
time  was  when  Egypt,  the  young  untutored  child 
of  the  desert,  was  not  the  queen  of  arts  and  sciences 
who  sat  enthroned  over  the  intellectual  world.  Then 
did  she  become  the  prey  of  the  spoiler.  She  was 
invaded  and  conquered  by  the  Tali'  —  Shepherd 
Kings,  or  'Hyksos,'  who,  according  to  Manetho, 
overran  the  land,  put  the  inhabitants  to  chains  and 
tributary  service,  and  became  for  awhile  the  rulers 


112     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

of  Egypt.  What  this  country  was  before  the  ad- 
vent of  these  Shepherd  Kings  we  can  hardly  con- 
jecture, but  after  their  rule,  every  monument,  pyra- 
mid and  inscription  bore  the  stamp  of  Oriental 
ideality.  It  needs  not  that  we  particularize  the 
details  of  these  revolutionary  changes;  we  only  al- 
lude to  them  to  account  for  the  wonderful  parity 
which  exists  between  the  religious  opinions  which  we 
have  enlarged  upon  in  our  descriptions  of  Hindu 
worship,  and  those  which  reappear  in  Egyptian 
Theogony.  Let  us,  as  Solomon  says,  consider  the 
conclusion  of  the  wliole  matter.  Cheops,  a  monarch 
of  the  invading  line,  caused  a  temple  to  be  erected 
in  conformance  with  those  strict  rules  of  science, 
revealed  to  the  ancient  Hindu  metaphysicians,  as  the 
mode  in  which  God  worked." 

Remembering  that  the  book  from  which  the 
above  quotations  are  taken  was  published  in  1876, 
since  which  time  much  added  light  has  been  thrown 
on  the  close  similarity  between  Central  American 
and  Egyptian  monuments,  especially  through  the 
indefatigable  explorations  conducted  by  Prof,  and 
Mme.  Le  Plongeon,  it  seems  quite  reasonable  to  re- 
fer to  an  Atlantian  as  well  as  to  a  Hindu  origin,  for 
an  adequate  explanation  of  the  building  of  the 
Great  Pyramid.  But  it  matters  not  who  built  it  or 
in  what  age  it  was  erected,  for  as  a  temple  of  the 
immemorial  mystery  of  human  life,  fashioned,  in 
accordance  with  the  plan  of  the  Solar  System,  it 
stands  pre-eminent,  and  it  is  therefore  to  universal 
esoteric  Co-Masonry  that  we  must  turn  for  a  com- 
plete elucidation  of  its  abiding  as  well  as  original 
significance. 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     113 

There  is  one  more  mighty  wonder  in  Egypt  of 
world-wide  celebrity — the  majestic  Sphinx — which 
ranks  second  only  to  the  Great  Pyramid  in  symboli- 
cal expressiveness.  The  special  feature  of  this  mys- 
terious stone  preacher  is  its  emphatic  protest  against 
the  animal  worship  outpictured  in  all  common  Egyp- 
tian architectural  productions.  We  are  all  familiar 
with  representations  of  Anubis,  the  dog-headed  di- 
vinity, and  with  many  other  works  of  popular  art 
which  equally  exalt  animal  forms  above  the  human 
level.  In  the  massive  Sphinx,  propounding  its  age- 
long riddle  to  every  passer-by,  we  see  the  exactly 
contradictory  concept,  for  here  is  a  lion's  body  sur- 
mounted with  a  human  head.  In  this  portrayal  we 
can  clearly  trace  the  work  of  some  truly  enlightened 
cult,  erecting  its  silent  age-enduring  protest  against 
animal-worship,  and  displaying  unmistakably  the  ex- 
altation of  the  distinctively  human,  and  the  conse- 
quent rightful  subordination  of  the  animal.  This 
is  truly  the  problem  which  all  humanity  is  called 
upon  to  solve.  Neither  the  worship  nor  the  ex- 
tirpation of  the  animal  is  our  goal,  but  the  perfect 
ascendancy  of  the  human  over  the  animal,  so  that 
the  human  may  jutsly  reign  and  the  animal  as 
justly  serve.  Let  Egypt  reveal  her  message  to  the 
modern  world  as  she  revealed  it  in  remote  antiquity, 
prior  to  her  decadence,  and  we  shall  understand 
aright  the  double  meaning  of  the  passage :  "Out  of 
Egypt  have  I  called  my  son." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  PHIIvOSOPHY  OF  ANCIENT  GREECE — THE  SCHOOI, 
OF  PYTHAGORAS — THE  DEIyPHIC  MYSTERIES. 

We  have  all  heard  the  famous  inscription  on  the 
Temple  of  Delphi,  "Know  thyself  and  thou  wilt 
know  the  universe  and  the  gods."  On  the  basis  of 
this  maxim  the  entire  theosophical  system  of  the 
ancient  Greeks  was  based.  The  three  leading  propo- 
sitions of  all  the  Esoteric  Schools  are  summed  up 
in  the  sentence  frequently  quoted  as  the  gist  of  the 
teaching  of  Pythagoras:  "Evolution  is  the  law  of 
life;  number  is  the  law  of  the  universe;  unity  is 
the  law  of  God." 

The  wonderful  character  known  as  Orpheus  is 
no  mythical  personage,  but  a  genuine  adept  of  an- 
tiquity around  whose  wonderful  career,  as  in  all 
similar  cases,  multitudes  of  fairy  tales  have  gath- 
ered. The  work  of  Orpheus,  like  that  of  all  other 
great  spiritual  teachers,  did  not  consist  in  establish- 
ing a  sect  or  party,  but  in  disseminating  truths  of 
universal  import  which  gradually  percolated  through 
many  existing  systems,  constituting  an  inner  body  of 
doctrine  of  which  simply  literalists  were  always 
ignorant.  Pythagoras,  the  Sage  of  Samos,  though 
his  period  was  not  earlier  than  600  B.  C,  is  re- 
garded as  quite  a  legendary  character  by  many  who 

114 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     115 

have  not  deeply  studied  the  history  of  that  epoch, 
and  as  in  the  case  of  so  many  other  great  leaders 
who  worked  from  a  spiritual  standpoint,  fierce  per- 
secution assailed  this  renowned  Initiate  and  all  who 
had  the  hardihood  to  publicly  espouse  his  doctrines 
and  remain  faithful  to  his  cause.  The  more  we 
study  history,  the  more  convinced  must  we  become 
that  the  persecuting  spirit,  which  has  relentlessly 
attacked  all  the  world's  great  reformers,  is  excited 
not  by  religious  conviction  in  any  case  originally, 
but  by  scheming  demagogues,  whose  tyrannical  au- 
thority, whether  in  Church  or  State,  is  always  threat- 
ened by  the  spread  of  knowledge,  and  particularly 
by  a  real  understanding  of  the  Mysteries.  In  the 
case  of  Pythagoras  and  his  followers,  this  perse- 
cution took  place  in  Sicily,  from  which  island  many 
of  the  instructed  fled  to  Greece,  which  furnished 
them  a  safe  asylum.  It  is  to  Plato  that  we  owe 
almost  all  our  information  concerning  Pythagoras 
and  his  teachings;  for,  like  other  great  spiritual 
enlighteners,  this  noble  master  gave  instruction 
orally  and  never  transferred  his  esoteric  teachings 
to  writing  except  under  cover  of  symbolical  signs, 
which  only  his  disciples  were  able  to  interpret.  It 
appears  that  all  masters  have  adopted  the  two-fold 
method  of  giving  moral  instruction  freely  to  multi- 
tudes, but  confiding  the  deeper  meaning  of  their 
teaching  exclusively  to  those  disciples  who  had  pre- 
pared themselves  to  profit  by  more  interior  instruc- 
tion. No  sensible  or  thoughtful  person  can  fail  to 
see  the  wisdom  and  complete  justice  of  this  course, 
for  no  one  was  excluded  from  the  deeper  teaching 
who  was  prepared  to  receive  it,  and  preparation  con- 


ii6     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

sisted  in  thoroughly  digesting  and  practically  apply- 
ing the  general  teaching  given  openly  to  the  multi- 
tudes. All  sorts  of  curious  names  have  been  given 
to  this  inner  teaching  by  those  who  referred  to  it 
metaphorically.  In  India  the  curious  title  of  *'Boar's 
flesh"  has  been  sometimes  applied  to  an  inner  philo- 
sophy which  was  concealed  from  the  masses,  a  simi- 
litude which  has  led  to  the  ludicrous  mistake  enter- 
tained by  some  shallow  critics  that  one  of  the  Bud- 
dhas  died  from  gourmandizing  on  flesh,  when  it  is 
well  known  in  the  East  that  those  who  occupy  high 
spiritual  stations  are  always  vegetarians.  In  the 
School  of  Pythagoras,  great  stress  was  laid  on  simple 
diet,  as  one  means  for  purifying  the  body  of  a  can- 
didate seeking  admission  into  the  inner  circle  of 
disciples,  for  it  was  stoutly  contended  that  no  one 
could  become  thoroughly  clairvoyant,  in  the  higher 
acceptance  of  the  term,  who  partook  of  animal  food, 
or  who  used  any  stimulants  or  narcotics.  The  Sage 
of  Samos  was  not  an  ordinary  theurgist  or  worker 
of  miracles,  serving  merely  to  create  transitory  sen- 
sational interest,  his  avowed  mission  being  to  assist 
humanity  in  the  work  of  such  complete  regeneration 
that  strife  should  cease  upon  the  earth,  both  in  the 
inward  lives  of  his  disciples  and  in  the  outer  world 
also,  so  far  as  their  influence  extended.  The  es- 
sence of  the  Pythagorean  Doctrine  has  come  down 
to  us  in  the  Golden  Verses  of  Lysis,  in  the  com- 
mentary of  Hierocles,  and  especially  in  the  Timaeus 
of  Plato,  which  contains  a  perfect  system  of  cosmo- 
gony. All  the  great  writers  of  ancient  Greece  radi- 
ate the  spirit  of  Pythagoras,  whom  they  admired 
so  greatly  that  they  never  tire  of  relating  anecdotes 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     117 

depicting  the  wisdom  and  beauty  of  his  teaching 
and  his  marvelous  power  over  all  with  whom  he 
came  in  contact.  He  is  quoted  as  an  authority  by 
the  Gnostics  of  the  early  Christian  Church  as  well 
as  by  the  Neoplatonists  of  Alexandria.  This  teach- 
ing constitutes  a  magnificent  whole,  and  serves 
greatly  to  simplify  the  mysterious  symbolism  of 
India  and  Egypt,  which  often  requires  a  clear  Hel- 
lenic mind  to  portray  it  in  intelligible  language  con- 
sistently with  rational  and  ennobling  ideas  of  human 
liberty.  That  wonderful  period  which  witnessed  the 
life  and  work  of  Pythagoras  was  also  the  age  of 
Lao-Tse  in  China,  and  of  Buddha  Sakya-Muni  in 
India.  Pythagoras  was  a  great  traveler;  he  is  said 
to  have  crossed  the  whole  of  the  ancient  world  be- 
fore delivering  his  message  in  Greece,  to  which 
country  he  brought  the  ripe  fruits  of  a  thoroughly 
matured  philosophy.  A  fascinating  account  of  this 
wonderful  teacher  is  given  by  the  gifted  French 
author,  Edouard  Schure,  who  enters  with  much 
picturesque  detail  into  an  account  of  the  early  years 
and  extended  travels  of  this  brilliant  yet  calm  philo- 
sopher, who  was  the  son  of  noble-minded  parents. 
His  father  was  a  wealthy  jeweler  of  Samos;  his 
mother  a  woman  of  much  refinement.  It  is  said  that 
the  Pythoness  of  Delphi,  when  consulted  by  these 
good  people  shortly  after  their  marriage,  promised 
them  a  son  who  would  be  useful  to  all  men  through- 
out all  times.  The  oracle  directed  them  to  Sidon  in 
Phoenicia,  where  the  child  could  be  born  far  from 
the  disturbing  influences  which  then  ruled  in  their 
native  land.  Before  his  birth  Pythagoras  was  fer- 
vently consecrated  to  Apollo,  the  God    of    Light. 


Ii8    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

When  the  child  was  only  a  year  old,  acting  on  ad- 
vice received  from  a  priest  of  Delphi,  his  mother 
took  him  to  an  Israelitish  temple  in  a  valley  of 
Lebanon  where  the  high  priest  gave  the  infant  a 
special  blessing.  Parthenis,  the  mother  of  this  won- 
drous babe,  is  reported  to  have  been  a  singularly 
beautiful  and  gentle  woman,  highly  intellectual  and 
of  a  very  gracious  temper.  As  the  boy  grew  toward 
manhood,  his  parents  encouraged  him  in  that  pursuit 
of  wisdom  in  which  he  took  a  most  keen  delight,  and 
so  earnest  a  student  was  he  that  when  only  eighteen 
years  of  age  he  had  studied  in  classes  composed  al- 
most exclusively  of  thoroughly  mature  and  particu- 
larly able  men.  But  though,  when  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three,  he  had  enjoyed  conference  with 
Thales  and  Anazimander  at  Miletus,  and  others  of 
the  greatest  among  philosophers,  none  of  these  dis- 
tinguished teachers  had  satisfied  his  yearning  for 
the  knowledge  of  perfect  truth.  Their  teachings 
seemed  to  him  contradictory,  and  he  was  ever  search- 
ing for  a  grand  synthesis.  We  translate  freely  the 
following  paragraphs  from  the  french  of  Edouard 
Schure  describing  the  hour  when  this  marvelous 
genius  seemed  to  attain  his  first  complete  glimpse 
of  the  great  rnission  which  lay  before  him :  "Through 
the  length  of  a  glorious  night  Pythagoras  directed 
his  gaze  now  to  the  earth,  now  to  the  temple,  and 
now  to  the  starlit  skies.  Demeter,  the  Earth-Mother, 
that  Nature  whose  secrets  he  sought  to  penetrate, 
was  there  outspread  beneath  him  and  around.  He 
imbibed  her  potent  exhalations  and  felt  the  invincible 
attraction  uniting  him,  a  thinking  atom,  to  her 
bosom,   an   inseparable   portion   of   herself.     The 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     119 

Sages  whom  he  had  consulted  had  told  him  that 
it  was  from  her  that  all  things  spring.  From  noth- 
ing comes  nothing.  The  soul  proceeds  from  water 
and  from  fire,  but  this  subtle  emanation  of  the  primal 
element  issues  from  them  only  to  revert.  Nature, 
said  they,  is  sightless  and  inflexible;  resign  thyself 
to  her  unchanging  laws.  The  sole  merit  thou  canst 
have  consists  in  this,  that  thou  knowest  them  and 
art  resigned  to  them.  Then  he  gazed  upon  the  fir- 
mament and  sought  to  decipher  the  letters  of  flame 
formed  by  the  Constellations  in  the  fathomless 
depths  of  space.  These  signs,  said  he,  must  have  a 
meaning,  for  if  the  infinitesimal,  the  motion  of 
atoms,  has  its  reason  for  existence,  surely  then  also 
the  immeasurably  great,  the  wide-extended  stars 
whose  constellations  represent  a  body  of  the  uni- 
verse! Verily  each  of  these  worlds  must  have  its 
law,  for  all  move  unitedly  according  to  number  and 
in  perfect  harmony.  But  who  will  decipher  this 
starry  alphabet?  The  priests  of  Juno  had  told 
him  this  universe  is  the  abode  of  the  gods  which 
existed  before  the  earth.  *Thy  soul  cometh'  (said 
they)  *from  thence.  Pray  to  the  gods  that  it  may 
remount  to  heaven.*  Then  we  are  told  that  his 
meditations  were  interrupted,  first  by  the  chants 
of  the  Lesbian  women  and  the  Bacchic  airs  chanted 
by  the  youths,  but  these  melodious  sounds  were 
soon  interrupted  by  piercing  mournful  cries  issuing 
from  men  who  were  to  be  sold  as  slaves  and  were 
being  cruelly  struck  by  those  who  were  compelling 
them  to  embark  for  Asia.  Then  it  was  that  a  pain- 
ful thrill  ran  through  his  frame,  for  a  mighty 
problem  presented  itself  before  him,  as  he  con- 


I20    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

trasted  vividly  the  different  estates  of  the  various 
classes  of  human  beings  who  were  thus  brought  be- 
fore his  notice.  Whatever  others  might  say  and 
whatever  appearances  might  indicate,  the  young 
Pythagoras  cried  out  for  liberty,  liberty  from  all 
the  pain,  slavery  and  madness  so  abundantly  spread 
around  him.  Who  were  right?  he  asked.  The 
Sages  who  taught  a  doctrine  of  blind  fatality,  the 
priests  who  attributed  everything  to  Divine  Provi- 
dence, or  the  great  mass  of  humanity  who  stood 
between  the  two  with  no  well-defined  philosophy? 
All  voices,  he  decided,  declared  some  aspect  of 
truth,  but  none  gave  to  him  the  true  solution  of  the 
problem.  The  three  worlds,  elaborately  described 
in  ancient  cosmology,  undoubtedly  existed,  and  it 
was  in  the  law  of  their  equilibrium  that  the  secret 
of  the  Kosmos  lay.  Having  given  utterance  to  this 
discovery,  he  rose  to  his  feet,  his  glance  fixed  on 
the  majestic  temple  which  seemed  transfigured  in 
the  moonbeams.  In  that  magnificent  temple  he  be- 
lieved he  saw  an  ideal  image  of  the  universe.  The 
Kosmos  guided  and  penetrated  by  God  formed  the 
sacred  Quaternion,  which  is  the  source  of  Nature 
whose  cause  is  eternal.  Concealed  in  the  geometri- 
cal lines  of  the  Delphic  Temple,  he  thought  he  found 
the  key  of  the  universe.  The  base,  columns,  archi- 
trave and  triangular  pediment  represented  to  his 
view  the  three-fold  nature  of  humanity  and  the 
universe:  of  the  Microcosm  and  the  Macrocosm 
crowned  by  divine  unity,  itself  a  trinity.  The 
three  worlds  natural,  human  and  divine,  sustaining 
one  another  and  performing  a  universal  drama  in 
an  ascending  and  descending  movement  signified  to 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     121 

him  the  balance  of  earth  and  heaven,  of  which 
human  liberty  holds  control.  It  was  then  that  he 
conceived  of  human  purification  and  liberation  by 
triple  initiation.  But  he  must  prove  by  reason 
what  his  simple  intelligence  had  received  from  the 
Absolute.  This  needs  a  human  life;  this  is  the 
task  of  Hercules.  But  where  could  he  find  the 
necessary  knowledge  to  conduct  this  mighty  labor  ? 
Nowhere  but  in  his  own  soul.  It  was  then  that 
he  forsook  all  allegiance  to  existing  schools,  and 
began  the  great  task  of  working  out  for  himself 
that  wonderfully  complete  and  simple,  though 
seemingly  intricate  system,  which  we  have  learned 
to  venerate  as   Pythagorean  philosophy." 

Modern  natural  philosophy  has  always  been  com- 
pelled to  acknowledge  an  imponderable  universal 
agent,  and  has,  therefore,  sometimes  quite  uncon- 
sciously, fallen  largely  into  line  with  the  ideas  of 
both  ancient  and  modern  Theosophists. 

In  the  ancient  Greek  thought,  Cybele-Maia  reigns 
everywhere;  for  this  is  the  name  given  to  the  soul 
of  the  world,  that  plastic,  vibrating  substance 
through  which  creative  spirit  acts.  Oceans  of  ether- 
unite  all  worlds,  and  this  mysterious  element  is 
,called  the  great  mediator  between  invisible  and 
visible,  between  spirit  and  matter,  between  the  in- 
terior and  exterior  of  the  universe.  The  modern 
Theosophical  doctrine  of  the  "astral  light"  is  prac- 
tically identical  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Logos 
and  its  many  manifestations,  as  held  in  ancient 
Greece  as  well  as  all  over  the  Orient.  With  these 
ancient  concepts  the  philosophy  of  Pythagoras"  is 
very  largely  in  accord;  but  when  he  visited  the 


122     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

temple  of  Delphi  and  infused  new  life  into  the  doc- 
trines taught  there,  he  gave  to  his  disciples  a  very 
much  loftier  idea  of  the  universe  and  of  humanity 
than  was  then  popularly  known  among  the  fre- 
quenters of  that  world-famous  shrine.  Pythagoras 
visited  Delphi  after  visiting  all  the  other  Grecian 
temples,  and  at  a  time  when  its  art  of  divination 
had  somewhat  deteriorated.  His  mission  every- 
where was  both  to  restore  and  to  infuse  new  light. 
In  that  wonderful  temple  he  found  Theoclea,  a 
priestess  of  Apollo,  who  belonged  to  one  of  the 
leading  hereditary  priestly  families.  This  refnark- 
able  girl  positively  disliked  most  things  which  at- 
tracted others,  and  she  was  of  so  deeply  spiritual 
a  nature  that  she  seemed  to  require  none  of  those 
accessories  to  devotion,  or  aids  to  mystic  develop- 
ment, which  seem  usually  necessary.  She  is  re- 
ported to  have  heard  spiritual  voices  in  open  day- 
light, and  on  exposing  herself  to  the  rays  of  the 
rising  sun,  their  mystical  vibration  developed  in 
her  a  true  ecstasy,  during  which  she  listened  to  the 
singing  of  choirs  celestial.  Feeling  herself  attracted 
to  some  higher  world  than  earth,  to  which  she  had 
not  yet  found  the  key,  she  was  at  once  attracted  by 
that  much  deeper  teaching,  and  by  the  far  nobler  in- 
fluence exerted^  by  Pythagoras  than  she  was  able 
to  obtain  from  the  priests  of  the  Delphic  temple, 
whose  instructions  and  ceremonies  by  no  means  sat- 
isfied her  inmost  spirit.  It  is  said  that  he  and  she 
recognized  each  other  immediately  as  kindred  souls, 
who  must  work  together  for  the  elevation  of  hu- 
manity. Pythagoras  at  that  time  was  in  his  prime ; 
his  eloquence  was  amazing,  and  his  presence  so  en^* 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     123 

chanting  that  the  very  atmosphere  became  lighter, 
and  the  intelligence  of  those  around  him  awakened 
to  an  extent  far  beyond  the  usual.  From  this  time 
on  the  work  of  this  mighty  Sage  made  an  impres- 
sion in  Greece  far  greater  than  that  of  any  other 
teacher,  and  his  school  was  at  once  renowned  for 
the  extreme  purity  of  its  philosophy  and  its  astound- 
ing depth  of  insight  into  the  profoundest  mysteries 
of  the  universe.  Pythagoras  and  Theoclea  worked 
together  for  a  full  year  at  Delphi  in  complete  spiri- 
tual concert,  and  before  he  took  his  departure  he 
had  fully  prepared  her  to  carry  on  a  ministry  vir- 
tually identical  with  his  own;  thus  did  he  demon- 
strate the  underlying  principle  of  ancient  Co- 
Masonry  which  always  assigns  to  woman  an  equal 
place  with  man  in  the  celebration  of  all  mysteries, 
wisely  drawing  a  horizontal  line  between  classes 
of  individuals  solely  on  account  of  qualification, 
never  an  absurd  perpendicular  line  based  on  sex- 
differentiation. 

After  leaving  Delphi,  Pythagoras  worked  in 
Croton,  where  the  famous  Pythagorean  Institute 
arose,  which  was  a  college  and  a  model  city  under 
the  direction  of  this  great  Initiate.  Through  a  wise 
combination  of  art  and  science,  that  magical  har- 
mony of  soul  and  intellect  which  Pythagoreans  re- 
garded as  the  arcanum  of  philosophy  was  estab- 
lished. Science  and  religion  were  entirely  at  one, 
and  it  would  be  well  indeed  for  many  in  this  modern 
world,  who  are  vainly  endeavoring  to  reconcile 
false  notions  of  religion  with  partly  comprehended 
facts  of  science,  to  quaff  a  deep  draft  of  inspiration 
from  the  Pythagorean  synthesis. 


124     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

Edouard  Schure  gives  us  a  fascinating  narrative 
descriptive  of  the  white  dwelHng  of  the  Pytha- 
gorean Initiates  situated  on  a  hill  encircled  by  olive 
and  cypress  trees.  The  following  is  a  free  trans- 
lation from  the  exquisite  french  of  this  delightful 
author:  ''On  ascending  the  hill,  the  porticos,  gar- 
dens and  gymnasium  were  distinctly  seen.  The 
Temple  of  the  Muses,  with  its  circular  colonnade, 
light  and  elegant,  towered  above  the  two  wings  of 
the  building.  The  terrace  of  the  surrounding  gar- 
dens overlooked  the  town  and  its  harbor.  In  the 
far  distance  stretched  the  gulf,  between  sharp, 
rugged  portions  of  the  coast,  as  though  in  a  frame 
of  agate,  while  the  Ionian  Sea  enclosed  the  horizon 
with  a  line  of  azure.  One  might  often  see  women 
dressed  in  many-colored  costumes  making  their  way 
on  the  left  side  of  the  hill  down  to  the  sea  through 
an  alley  of  cypresses.  These  were  on  their  way 
to  worship  in  the  temple  of  Ceres.  On  the  right 
side  men  were  often  seen  mounting  in  white  robes 
to  the  temple  of  Apollo.  It  was  a  great  attraction 
to  the  keen  imagination  of  youth  to  realize  that  the 
school  of  Initiates  was  under  the  protection  of  these 
divinities,  one  of  whom  (Ceres)  held  the  profound 
mysteries  of  Woman  and  of  Earth,  while  the  other 
(Apollo)  revealed  those  of  Man  and  of  Heaven." 

Pythagoras  soon  sustained  a  reputation  for  stern- 
ness in  discipline  by  refusing  to  admit  unworthy 
novices,  for  he  said  that  "not  every  kind  of  wood 
was  suitable  for  the  making  of  a  Mercury."  Young 
men  who  desired  to  enter  the  association  must  un- 
dergo severe  tests.  When  introduced  by  their  par- 
ents or  one  of  the  masters,  they  were  first"  allowed 


Ancient -Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     125 

to  enter  the  gymnasium  in  which  the  youths  played 
games  appropriate  to  their  age;  but  every  new- 
comer noticed  at  once  that  this  was  a  gymnasium 
of  a  very  peculiar  sort,  quite  unlike  those  of  the 
Grecian  towns  in  which  were  heard  the  violent  cries 
of  clamorous  groups  boasting  of  their  strength,  chal- 
lenging each  other  and  proudly  exhibiting  their 
muscles.  Here  were  only  groups  of  well-behaved 
and  singularly  fine-looking  young  men  walking  in 
couples  beneath  the  porticos  or  playing  rationally 
in  the  arena.  They  always  invited  a  stranger  to 
join  them  with  kind  simplicity,  making  him  feel  at 
once  at  home  among  them  and  never  subjecting  him 
to  any  annoyance  or  humiliation,  a  lesson  which 
modern  colleges  in  Europe  and  America  need  to 
mark,  learn  and  inwardly  digest  until  the  disgrace- 
ful practice  of  hazing  and  similar  abominations  are 
once  for  all  eliminated  root  and  branch  from  all 
educational  institutions  claiming  respectability  and 
seeking  the  patronage  of  an  enlightened  public. 

Before  we  can  reasonably  hope  to  make  any  real 
progress  in  spiritual  or  ethical  directions  we  must 
lay  a  firm  foundation  in  physical  and  mental  culture. 
The  gymnasium,  according  to  Pythagorean  philos- 
ophy, is  a  valuable  vestibule  to  the  inner  temple 
in  which  profound  instruction  is  given  pertaining 
to  mind  and  spirit;  but  as  during  a  soul's  terrestrial 
embodiment  it  needs  to  operate  through  a  physical 
instrument,  the  part  of  reason  is  to  provide  as  per- 
fect an  instrument  as  possible,  and  keep  that  vehicle 
in  excellent  working  order.  In  the  system  of  Pytha- 
goras there  is  consistently  maintained,  from  first  to 
last,  the  idea  of  perfect  equilibrium.     Here  is  to  be 


126    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

found  neither  voluptuous  indulgence  nor  harsh  as- 
ceticism. The  body  is  not  treated  as  though  it  were 
the  foe  of  the  spirit,  but  it  is  never  allowed  to  usurp 
any  throne  of  mastery. ' 

In  this  matchless  school  of  ancient  Greece  every 
principle  of  virtue  and  nobility  was  inculcated  and 
exemplified  which  the  foremost  educators  of  to-day 
are  endeavoring  to  impress  upon  the  gradually  awak- 
ening consciousness  of  colleges  and  churches,  and 
it  must  prove  somewhat  humiliating  to  the  haughty 
heads  of  Christian  seats  of  learning  to  find  that  a 
*Tagan"  philosopher,  several  centuries  before  the 
Christian  era,  had  carried  out  successfully  a  scheme 
of  discipline  which  excluded  all  objectionable  fea- 
tures, such  as  stupid,  and  often  brutal,  wrestling, 
while  it  afforded  vigorous  young  athletes  ample  op- 
portunity and  encouragement  to  cultivate  their 
muscles  to  the  utmost  within  the  reasonable  bounds 
of  healthy  exercise  and  good  behaviour.  On  the 
question  of  friendly  feelings  between  fellow  stu- 
dents, Pythagoras  took  uncomprising  ground.  True 
friendship  can  never  exist  in  company  with  bru- 
tality, nor  can  real  courage  be  developed  by  culti- 
vating envy  or  catering  to  unrighteous  pride. 
Hatred  makes  us  inferior  to  those  we  hate,  pre- 
cisely as  terror  puts  us  in  the  power  of  what  we 
dread.  Heroes  are  developed  in  schools  where 
honest  mutual  esteem  is  cultivated  to  the  utmost, 
and  should  it  ever  be  necessary  for  a  hero  to  fight 
he  could  do  so  with  great  courage  and  ability,  but 
without  a  shade  of  fury.  The  Pythagorean  method 
was  both  simple  and  conclusive.  Fresh  arrivals  at 
the  college  were  encouraged  to  express  their  own 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     127 

views  freely  among  their  new  acquaintances,  and 
as  no  restriction  was  placed  upon  the  expression 
of  their  sentiments,  they  soon  registered  themselves 
as  suitable  or  unsuitable  for  admission  into  the 
classes.  If  any  new  applicant  proved  himself  intel- 
ligently appreciative  of  the  high  standard  in  vogue 
among  the  Initiates,  he  was  cordially  welcomed ;  but 
if  he  evinced  a  preference  for  the  cruder  standard 
of  the  popular  gymnasia  of  the  towns,  he  properly 
drifted  thither.  While  a  new  candidate  was  ex- 
pressing his  sentiments  without  restraint,  the  teach- 
ers were  taking  note  of  all  he  said,  and  it  never 
took  them  long  to  ascertain  whether  he  showed  fit- 
ness for  admission  or  otherwise.  Pythagoras  him- 
self would  often  appear  unexpectedly  in  the  presence 
of  the  stranger,  and  study  his  words  and  gestures, 
in  estimating  which  he  was  never  at  fault ;  he  paid 
particular  attention  to  gait  and  laughter,  which  are 
always  faithful  indexes  of  character;  he  had  also 
made  so  profound  a  study  of  the  human  face  that 
he  read  dispositions  at  a  glance.  Pythagoras  in- 
troduced some  of  the  Egyptian  tests  into  his  system, 
but  the  severer  among  these  he  wisely  modified. 
After  a  few  months  of  preliminary  training,  the  can- 
didate was  submitted  to  an  ordeal  intended  to  test 
his  bravery  and  prove  his  spirit. 

One  of  these  tests  consisted  in  spending  a  night  in 
a  cave  which  had  the  reputation  of  being  haunted 
with  mysterious  elementals  who  appeared  to  the 
aspirant  in  gruesome  shapes.  If  his  courage  with- 
stood this  ordeal,  he  was  accounted  worthy  to  pass 
on  to  higher  initiations,  but  if  he  shrank  in  terror 
from  this  external  test  he  was  considered  too  irreso- 


128     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

lute  to  be  eligible  for  advancement.  Being  accepted 
for  the  preliminary  degree,  it  was  usually  not  long 
before  the  candidate  was  put  through  moral  trials 
accompanied  by  severe  tests  of  intellectual  charac- 
ter. Among  these  the  ready  solution  of  intricate 
mathematical  problems  held  prominent  place.  For 
example,  a  teacher  would  call  upon  a  student  with- 
out warning  to  explain  the  meaning  of  a  triangle 
within  a  circle,  or  to  answer  such  a  question  as, 
Why  is  the  dodecahedron,  contained  within  a  sphere, 
the  symbol  of  the  universe?  When  passing  these 
tests,  the  student  was  required  to  spend  twelve  con- 
secutive hours  in  his  cell,  during  which  time  he 
might  partake  of  bread  and  water,  but  no  other 
food  was  allowed  him.  To  young  men  of  sybaritic 
temperament,  such  discipline  might  seem  excessively 
severe,  but  to  those  of  frugal  tastes  and  sincerely 
bent  on  study,  this  was  only  healthy  mental  exercise. 
When  these  twelve  hours  were  ended  the  youth  was 
taken  into  a  company  of  assembled  novices,  who  were 
allowed  to  ridicule  him  to  test  his  metal ;  if  he  with- 
stood all  jibes  and  sneers  complacently,  he  was  re- 
garded by  the  teachers  as  truly  an  embryonic  philos- 
opher, but  if  he  became  angry  and  resentful,  Pytha- 
goras would  inform  him  that  such  lack  of  self-con- 
trol demonstrated  ineligibility  for  advancement. 

It  was  only  in  extreme  cases  of  misconduct,  how 
ever,  that  this  thoroughly  equitable  master  expelled 
students  from  his  school,  and  when  he  did  so  he 
always  addressed  them  calmly  and  graciously,  ex- 
plaining to  them  that  it  could  be  of  no  use  to  them 
to  attempt  to  continue  their  studies  when  they  were 
quite  out  of  harmony  with  the  requirements  and 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     129 

discipline  of  the  college.  These  tests  of  temper 
proved  conclusively  the  degree  of  self-control  al- 
ready attained  by  the  young  men  who  wished  to  be- 
come renowned  in  future  as  philosophers.  Rejected 
candidates  would  sometimes  inveigh  bitterly  against 
the  college  and  its  head ;  among  these  was  the  fanat- 
ical Cylon,  who  never  forgave  the  college  for  his 
dismissal,  and  finally  excited  the  populace  to  bring 
about  its  downfall.  Those  who  bore  everything 
with  firmness  were  welcomed  into  the  novitiate  and 
received  enthusiastic  congratulations  from  their  new 
companions. 

The  First  Degree  was  called  Preparation.  This 
lasted  from  two  to  five  years.  Novices  were  called 
Listeners;  during  lessons  they  were  subject  to  the 
rule  of  complete  silence.  They  were  not  permitted 
to  ofifer  objections  or  to  enter  into  discussions,  for 
they  must  absorb  the  teaching  before  they  could 
be  prepared  to  discuss  it  intelligently.  The  Second 
Degree  was  called  Purification.  During  this  pro- 
cess of  study  the  novice  was  welcomed  into  the 
house  of  Pythagoras  and  numbered  among  his  dis- 
ciples ;  real  initiation  now  began.  A  rational  exposi- 
tion of  occult  doctrine  was  now  given,  which  con- 
sisted especially  in  a  study  of  the  Science  of  Num- 
bers, the  esoteric  meaning  of  which  was  concealed 
from  the  people  at  large,  and  only  communicated  to 
students  who  had  proven  their  worth.  A  great  dis- 
tinction was  made  between  sacred  and  secular  mathe- 
matics; the  latter  alone  are  known  to  European 
savants,  but  the  knowledge  of  the  former  has  al- 
ways been  carefully  preserved  in  the  East. 

The  number  One  necessarily  is  all-including,  as 


130    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

perfect  white  contains  all  colors.;  but  as  we  can- 
not conceive  of  the  Absolute  Unmanifest  with  our 
finite  intellects,  all  expressions  of  Divinity  must  be 
dual,  consequently  the  Dyad  reveals  the  Monad. 
Here  we  find  another  link  between  the  Pythagorean 
and  the  Jewish  conception  of  Divinity,  as  set  forth 
in  the  opening  chapters  of  the  Pentateuch.  Man 
and  Woman  hold  equal  rank  in  all  ancient  philoso- 
phies, but  the  feminine  is  always  regarded  as  in- 
terior, while  the  masculine  is  external;  therefore  it 
often  happens  that  short-sighted  or  unreflecting  stu- 
dents imagine  that  the  masculine  is  more  sacred 
than  the  feminine,  according  to  the  teaching  of 
ancient  and  Oriental  philosophies.  During  the  train- 
ing of  the  Initiate  in  the  Second  Degree,  the  stu- 
dent was  instructed  in  a  doctrine  very  similar  to 
much  of  the  teaching  with  which  we  are  familiar 
through  the  epistles  of  S.  Paul,  who  was  undoubt- 
edly familiar  with  Greek  philosophy  as  well  as 
with  Hebrew  and  Roman  law.  In  the  scheme  of 
Pythagoras  the  number  7  (compound  of  square  and 
triangle)  signifies  the  union  of  Man  and  Divinity. 
It  is  the  figure  of  all  great  Initiates,  who  understand 
that  there  are  7  degrees  in  involution  and  evolu- 
tion. The  number  10  represented  completeness;  it 
is  called  the  perfect  number  in  the  highest  sense,  for 
it  represents  all  principles  of  divinity  evolved  and 
reunited  in  a  new  unity.  We  have  all  heard  of  the 
9  Muses  personifying  the  sciences,  grouped  3  by  3, 
presiding  over  the  triple  ternary  evolved  in  9  worlds, 
which  together  with  Hestia,  Guardian  of  the  Pri- 
mordial Fire,  constitute  the  sacred  Decad. 

The    Third    Degree   was   called    Perfection,    as 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     131 

among  the  Essenes.  In  this  degree  psychology  and 
cosmogony  were  the  leading  studies.  While  the  les- 
sons in  the  earlier  degrees  were  given  in  daylight, 
often  in  the  full  blaze  of  the  outdoor  sun,  these 
deeper  teachings  were  usually  given  during  the  night 
season  in  the  open  air  by  the  seaside,  or  sometimes 
in  the  crypts  of  the  temple  which  were  gently  illu- 
minated by  lamps  of  naphtha.  It  was  at  these  times 
that  clairvoyance  asserted  itself,  and  the  inner  facul- 
ties of  the  students  began  to  enable  them  to  per- 
sonally verify  by  their  own  experience  that  which 
the  teachers  taught.  It  cannot  be  doubted  by  any 
who  have  studied  deeply  the  records  of  ancient  eso- 
teric teaching  that  the  old  astronomical  glyph,  which 
everywhere  presents  itself,  was  chiefly  a  veil  thrown 
over  the  secret  teaching,  which  related  far  more 
to  the  evolution  of  the  human  soul  than  to  the  move- 
ments of  the  literal  planets.  Ancient  astrology  was 
something  very  different  from  the  misguided  sub- 
stitute with  which  in  these  days  we  are  often  made 
disagreeably  familiar.  In  sacred  astrology  there 
are  no  "malific"  planets  or  ''evil"  aspects,  though 
it  is  very  clearly  taught  that  one  star  does  indeed 
differ  greatly  from  another;  but  as  members  of 
one  family  may  be  persons  of  widely  different  tem- 
perament, occupation  and  appearance,  and  yet  all 
be  good  and  useful,  so  in  a  family  of  worlds  like 
our  solar  system  the  different  planets  may  be  spoken 
of  as  brothers  and  sisters,  the  sun  being  the  parent 
of  them  all.  We  can  only  understand  the  famous 
saying  quoted  by  present-day  astrologers  of  the  bet- 
ter type,  "The  wise  man  rules  his  stars,  the  fool 
obeys  them,"  when  we  contemplate  the  significance 


132     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

of  the  personal  pronoun  in  the  sentence,  for  no  man, 
however  wise,  can  regulate  the  motions  of  the  stars, 
but  we  can  learn  to  regulate  their  correspondences 
within  his  own  nature.  Pythagorean  astrology  is 
founded  upon  the  acknowledgment  of  universally 
diffused  intelligence,  which  is  now  coming  to  be 
largely  recognized  by  Western  as  well  as  Eastern 
philosophers,  and  indeed  the  whole  scientific  world 
of  to-day  is  coming  very  near  to  an  acceptance  of 
that  ancient  esoteric  teaching  which  alone  accounts 
intelligently  for  the  behaviour  of  all  forms  of  ex- 
istence observable  under  the  microscope.  The  celes- 
tial history  of  Psyche  formed  the  climax  of  the 
instruction  given  by  Pythagoras  to  his  disciples. 
What  is  the  human  soul?  he  asked.  ''A  portion 
of  the  mighty  soul  of  the  world,  a  spark  of  Divine 
Spirit,  an  immortal  Monad.  Still,  through  its  pos- 
sible future  opens  out  into  the  unfathomable  splen- 
dors of  Divine  consciousness,  its  mysterious  dawn 
dates  back  to  the  origin  of  organized  matter.  To 
become  what  it  is  in  present-day  humanity,  it  must 
have  passed  through  all  the  reigns  of  nature,  the 
whole  scale  of  beings  gradually  developing  through 
a  series  of  innumerable  existences.  The  spirit  which 
fashions  the  worlds  and  condenses  cosmic  matter 
into  enormous  masses  manifests  itself  with  vary- 
ing intensity  and  an  ever  greater  concentration  in 
the  successive  reigns  of  nature.  A  blind  and  con- 
fused force  in  the  mineral,  individualized  in  the 
plant,  polarized  in  the  sensation  and  instincts  of  ani- 
mals, it  stretches  towards  the  conscious  monad  in 
this  slow  elaboration;  and  the  elementary  monad  is 
visible  in  the  most  inferior  of  animals. 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     133 

The  animal  and  spiritual  element  accordingly 
exists  in  every  kingdom,  though  only  in  infinitesimal 
quantities  in  the  lower  kingdoms.  The  souls  which 
exist  in  the  state  of  germs  in  the  lower  kingdoms 
stay  there  without  moving  away  for  .immense  pe- 
riods of  time,  and  it  is  only  after  great  cosmic  revo- 
lutions that,  in  changing  planets,  they  pass  to  a 
higher  reign.  All  they  can  do  during  a  planet's 
period  of  life  is  to  mount  a  few  degrees.  Where 
does  the  Monad  begin?  As  well  ask  at  what  hour 
a  nebula  was  formed  or  a  sun  shone  for  the  first 
time.  Anyhow,  what  constitutes  the  essence  of 
any  man  must  have  evolved  for  millions  of  years 
through  a  chain  of  lower  planets  and  kingdoms, 
keeping  through  all  these  existences  an  individual 
principle  which  follows  it  everywhere.  This  ob- 
scure but  indestructible  individuality  constitutes  the 
Divine  seal  of  the  Monad  in  which  God  wills  to 
manifest  Himself  through  consciousness. 

The  higher  one  ascends  in  the  series  of  organisms, 
the  more  the  Monad  develops  the  principles  latent 
in  it.  Polarized  force  becomes  capable  of  sensation, 
capacity  of  sensation  becomes  instinct,  and  instinct 
becomes  intelligence.  In  proportion  as  the  flicker- 
ing flame  of  consciousness  is  lit,  this  soul  becomes 
more  independent  of  the  body,  more  capable  of  ex- 
isting freely.  The  fluid,  non-polarized  soul  of  min- 
erals and  vegetables  is  bound  to  the  elements  of 
earth.  That  of  animals,  strongly  attracted  by  ter- 
restrial fire,  stays  there  for  some  time  after  living 
in  the  body,  and  then  returns  to  the  surface  of  the 
globe  to  reincarnate  in  its  species  without  ever  hav- 
ing the  possibility  of  leaving  the  lower  layers  of 


134    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

the  air.  These  are  peopled  with  elementals  or  ani- 
mal souls  which  play  their  part  in  atmospheric  life 
and  have  a  great  occult  influence  over  man.  The 
human  soul  alone  comes  from  the  sky  and  returns 
there  after  death.  At  what  period  of  its  long  cos- 
mic existence  has  the  elementary  become  the  human 
soul?  Through  what  incandescent  crucible,  what 
ethereal  flame  has  it  passed  ?  The  transformation 
has  been  possible  in  an  interplanetary  period  only 
by  the  meeting  of  human  souls  already  fully  formed 
which  have  developed  in  the  elementary  soul,  its 
spiritual  principle,  and  have  impressed  their  Divine 
prototype  like  a  seal  of  fire  in  its  plastic  substance." 
(Quoted  from  J.  Rothwell's  Translation.)  Accord- 
ing to  the  esoteric  traditions  of  India  and  Egypt,  we 
began  our  human  existence  on  other  planets  where 
matter  is  far  less  dense  than  here.  Human  bodies 
were  then  almost  vaporous,  and  it  was  quite  easy 
for  the  soul  to  accomplish  incarnation.  Here  we 
note  a  close  resemblance  between  the  teaching  of 
Pythagoras  and  that  profound  Oriental  doctrine 
which  we  have  summarized  in  the  section  of  this 
volume  dealing  especially  with  Hindu  doctrine  and 
tradition.  We  must  refer  our  readers  to  the  fine 
work  of  Edouard  Schure,  from  which  we  have  al- 
ready quoted  freely,  for  further  dissertation  on  this 
exhaustless  theme,  and  pass  on  to  a  mere  mention 
of  the  teaching  of  the  Fourth  Degree,  called  Epiph- 
any, meaning  vision  from  above.  The  initiation 
of  intelligence  must  be  followed  by  that  of  will,  the 
most  difficult  of  all.  The  disciple  must  become 
deeply  imbued  with  truth  in  his  inmost  being,  and 
must  put  the  high  teachings  into  practice  in  daily 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     135 

life.  To  attain  this  ideal,  one  must  unite  three  kinds 
of  perfection,  called  respectively  realization  of  truth 
in  intellect;  virtue  in  soul;  purity  in  body.  The 
astral  body  participates  in  all  the  acts  of  the  phys- 
ical; it  does  indeed  give  effect  to  them.  A  doc- 
trine of  regeneration,  which  Pythagoras  expounded 
very  clearly,  teaches  how  a  second  nature  must  re- 
place the  first,  and  finally  the  intellect  must  reach 
wisdom  beyond  mere  knowledge  till  it  can  distin- 
guish good  from  evil  in  every  department  of  exist- 
ence, and  behold  a  revelation  of  God  in  the  smallest 
of  creatures,  as  well  as  in  universal  immensities. 

On  reaching  this  altitude,  man  becomes  an  adept, 
and  enters  into  conscious  possession  of  new  facul- 
ties and  powers ;  the  inner  senses  of  the  soul  expand 
and  the  physical  senses  are  dominated  by  radiant 
will.  Bodily  magnetism,  penetrated  by  the  potency 
of  the  astral  soul,  electrified  by  will,  acquires  force 
apparently  miraculous.  Among  the  accepted  Ini- 
tiates, many  healed  the  sick  by  their  simple  presence, 
though  others  resorted  to  the  laying  on  of  hands. 
Clairvoyance,  like  that  of  Apollonius  of  Tyana  in 
one  age  and  of  Swedenborg  in  another,  was  fre- 
quently exhibited;  indeed,  all  the  wonders  recorded 
of  saints  and  seers  throughout  the  literature  of  the 
ages  seem  to  have  been  demonstrated  in  the  school 
of  this  mighty  master  whose  name  to-day  is  being 
pronounced  with  ever-increasing  reverence.  The 
Christian  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  so  much  misunder- 
stood, because  so  deeply  veiled  in  mystery,  was  ren- 
dered far  more  intelligible  by  Pythagoras  six  hun- 
dred years  before  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era 
than  by  those  controversial  Fathers  of  the  Church 


136    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

who  rejected  the  Divine  Feminine,  and  therefore 
made  quite  unintelligible  the  original  doctrine  of  the 
procession  of  the  Logos.  Father,  Mother  and  Child 
we  can  understand ;  but  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit 
is  an  unintelligible  phrase  until  we  know  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  originally  stood  for  the  Divine  Fem- 
inine. The  Pythagorean  Trinity  is  described  as 
Spirit,  Soul,  and  Heart  of  the  Living  Universe.  The 
life  of  Pythagoras  was  extremely  beautiful,  and 
in  the  truest  sense  both  spiritual  and  natural.  When 
sixty  years  of  age  he  married  one  of  his  pupils,  a 
maiden  of  great  beauty  and  singular  intelligence. 
This  noble  woman,  Theano,  entered  so  thoroughly 
into  her  husband's  thought  and  life  that  after  he  had 
passed  from  earth  she  became  the  centre  of  the 
Pythagorean  Order.  Two  sons  and  one  daughter 
were  the  result  of  this  union,  and  the  whole  family 
offered  a  high  model  for  all  other  families  to  follow. 
On  all  political  questions  Pythagoras  was  as  highly 
enlightened  as  in  the  transcendent  domain  of  di- 
rectly spiritual  philosophy,  for  he  was  a  reformer 
in  the  widest  and  highest  acceptance  of  the  term. 
The  system  of  government  which  he  advocated 
united  the  best  elements  of  democracy  and  aristoc- 
racy, and  it  will  be  well  indeed  if  those  who  are 
wrestling  with  modern  legislative  problems  investi- 
gate more  deeply  the  wise  teachings  of  those  true 
Initiates  of  old,  who,  while  loving  the  whole  people 
devotedly,  and  desiring  in  every  way  to  promote  the 
common  interest,  wisely  realized  that  only  the  most 
intelligent  and  in  every  way  enlightened  among  the 
people  were  competent  to  represent  the  multitudes  as 
governors  or  legislators. 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     137 

Cylon,  the  inveterate  persecutor  of  the  Pytha- 
gorean school,  from  which  he  had  been  expelled,  was 
a  fair  sample  of  the  unscrupulous  modern  dema- 
gogue. Tradition  asserts  that  one  evening,  when 
forty  of  the  principal  members  of  the  Order  had 
assembled,  this  outrageous  man,  who  was  then  a 
tribune,  surrounded  the  house  with  a;i.  enraged 
crowd  and  set  fire  to  the  buildings.  Thirty-eight 
of  the  disciples,  together  with  Pythagoras  himself, 
were  either  burned  to  death  or  massacred  by  their 
assailants,  but  the  Order  did  not  die;  it  was  only 
dispersed,  and  continued  for  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  to  exert  a  benign,  regenerating  influence  wher- 
ever it  was  established.  Many  of  the  predictions  of 
Pythagoras  were  literally  fulfilled,  and  this  fact  in 
itself  inclined  many  to  investigate  the  sublime  doc- 
trines of  an  Order  which  had  had  for  its  founder  a 
sage  and  seer  of  such  wonderful  graces  and  lu- 
cidity. Truly  has  it  been  said  that  Pythagoras  was 
an  Adept  and  Initiate  of  the  highest  type ;  he  enjoyed 
a  direct  spiritual  vision,  and  had  found  the  key 
to  the  occult  sciences  and  to  the  spiritual  world.  He 
drew  supplies  of  knowledge  from  the  primal  fount 
of  truth,  and  united  with  a  wondrous  intellect  a 
high  moral  nature,  which  commanded  the  respect 
and  love  of  all  capable  of  appreciating  real  nobility. 
The  philosophic  edifice  he  reared  was  never  de- 
stroyed. Plato  took  from  Pythagoras  his  entire  sys- 
tem of  metaphysics.  The  closing  words  of  Edouard 
Schure's  magnificent  french  treatise  amy  be  trans- 
lated thus :  ''The  school  of  Alexandria  occupied  the 
upper  stories  of  the  edifice,  while  modern  science 


138     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

has  possessed  itself  of  the  ground  floor  and  strength- 
ened its  foundations.  Many  philosophical  schools 
and  mystical  or  religious  sects  have  dwelt  within  its 
numerous  chambers.  No  philosophy,  however,  has 
yet  embraced  it  in  its  harmonious  entirety." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

APOLIvONIUS  OF  TYANA. 

One  of  the  ablest  followers  of  Pythagoras  was 
Apollonius  of  Tyana,  who  was  so  great  a  wonder- 
worker that  the  Emperor  Antonius  Caracalla  wor- 
shipped him  as  divine,  while  Alexander  Severus  and 
other  emperors  showered  upon  him  great  honors, 
and  regarded  him  with  high  esteem.  During  a  ter- 
rible plague  at  Epathuses,  it  is  recorded  that  he 
caused  it  to  cease  immediately  on  his  arrival  there, 
having  been  summoned  thither  by  men  in  high  au- 
thority, who  firmly  believed  in  his  miraculous  heal- 
ing power.  Concerning  his  many  works  of  heal- 
ing, we  are  told  that  sometimes  he  was  present  with 
his  patients  and  even  laid  his  hands  upon  them;  but 
in  many  instances  he  performed  marvelous  cures  at 
a  distance;  he  is  indeed  reported  to  have  done  as 
many  mighty  works  as  any  of  the  great  prophets 
or  apostles  of  whom  Holy  Writ  makes  any  mention. 
Like  all  other  truly  learned  and  holy  men,  Apol- 
lonius made  a  clear  distinction  between  righteous 
magic  and  unholy  sorcery.  By  true  magic  he  under- 
stood that  mysterious  power  which  acts  through 
sacred  ceremonies  performed  with  good  intent  by 
honorable  persons,  while  under  the  term  sorcery  he 
included  all  acts  which,  however  performed,  pro- 

139 


I40    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

ceeded  from  malicious  motives  and  were  worked 
with  the  intention  of  inflicting  injury.  Here  we 
have  one  more  illustrious  tribute  paid  to  a  noble 
universal  idea,  one  that,  though  it  has  long  been 
eclipsed,  is  now  shining  forth  again  in  all  its  native 
brilliancy,  inspiring  men  and  women  in  this  day  in 
many  lands  to  perform  many  benevolent  works  sim- 
ilar to  those  which  wrought  so  much  benefit  in  by- 
gone time  in  ancient  countries.  The  leading  doc- 
trines of  Apollonius  were  so  similar  to  those  of 
many  other  great  teachers  that  his  personal  identity 
does  not  always  stand  out  very  clearly ;  he  has  been 
many  times  confounded  with  other  illustrious  spiri- 
tual teachers  and  mighty  wonder-workers,  but  there 
seems  good  historical  evidence  that  he  was  a  very 
real  and  influential  personage,  and  one  moreover 
who  wrought  great  blessings  in  his  own  day  and 
handed  on  a  far-reachng  benign  influence  to  pos- 
terity. Speaking  for  himself,  his  biographers  make 
him  declare  that  his  mode  of  life  was  very  unlike 
that  of  the  bulk  of  the  people  among  whom  he 
mingled;  he  took  very  little  food,  but  gained  much 
nourishment  from  an  extremely  simple  diet;  he 
seems  to  have  been  entirely  free  from  ostentation, 
and  simply  went  about  doing  good  to  the  fullest 
extent  of  his  opportunity.  As  a  seer  he  takes  ex- 
ceptionally high  rank,  .for  he  evidently  possessed 
ability  to  foresee  and  foretell  many  important  events 
as  well  as  to  heal  many  diseases  and  quell  many  riots 
by  the  exercise  of  a  power  entirely  super-physical. 
Apollonius  lived  at  a  time  when  faith  in  the  gods 
and  goddesses  of  the  classic  world  had  greatly 
waned,  and  when  the  priests  and  priestesses  of  once 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     141 

glorious  temples  had  largely  declined  from  their 
former  high  estate,  and  it  was  his  earnest  mission 
to  seek  not  only  to  restore  the  ancient  glories  but  to 
enkindle  a  new  flame  and  fervor  in  his  own  genera- 
tion surpassing  in  brightness  and  purity  that  of  de- 
parted days.  Like  all  other  great  teachers  who  un- 
dertook to  enlighten  the  world,  he  was  withstood 
and  persecuted  by  many  classes  of  opponents,  but 
he  always  showed  himself  able  to  so  thoroughly  de- 
fend his  doctrine  and  practices  whenever  they  were 
attacked  that  he  made  hosts  of  friends  from  the 
ranks  of  the  opposition,  and  surrounded  himself 
with  companies  of  faithful  disciples  who  were 
loyal  and  devoted  even  unto  death.  This  great 
teacher  laid  no  stress  on  sacrifices,  and  paid  little 
heed  to  any  ritual  observances ;  a  pure  life  and  a 
philanthropic  temper  he  extolled  far  above  all  cere- 
monies, for  moral  excellencies  he  regarded  as  the 
only  great  essentials  for  spiritual  attainment.  Magi- 
cal powers  he  looked  upon  as  belonging  by  right 
to  those  who  lived  on  a  higher  plane  than  the  ma- 
jority, and  like  all  really  spiritually-minded  teachers 
he  expected  higher  human  faculties  to  unfold  nor- 
mally when  the  right  life  was  lived  conducive  to 
their  development,  without  recourse  to  any  artificial 
means  for  stimulating  them.  Philostratus,  in  a  mi- 
nute description  of  the  life  of  Apollonius,  says  that 
he  visited  the  temple  of  Aesculapius  at  Aegea,  the 
Oracles  of  Anphiaraus,  Delphi,  and  Dodona;  the 
Magi  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon:  the  Brahmins  of 
India ;  he  also  visited  Egypt,  Ethiopia,  Crete,  Sicily 
and  Rome.  In  his  later  years  he  resided  for  some 
time  at  Smyrna,  Ephesus  and  Tyana;  the  date  of 


142     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

his  death  is  given  as  96  C.  E.,  at  the  age  of  about 
100  years.  Wherever  he  went  he  urged  the  people 
to  a  Hfe  of  the  strictest  morahty  accompanied  by 
works  of  piety  and  prayer.  He  is  said  to  have 
cured  every  kind  of  malady,  including  the  most  dan- 
gerous and  fatal  diseases,  and  many  of  his  predic- 
tions were  accurately  fulfilled.  We  can  gather  much 
from  these  recorded  incidents  that  will  throw  bright 
light  upon  the  early  years  of  the  Christian  era,  for 
at  that  period  it  seems  impossible  to  doubt  that  a 
mighty  spiritual  wave  was  sweeping  over  this  planet 
and  manifesting  its  potency  through  the  agency  of 
a  great  number  of  contemporary  wonder-workers, 
many  of  whom  were  unmistakably  men  and  women 
of  the  noblest  character  devoted  to  the  highest  imag- 
inable ideals.  It  would  be  a  vain  and  useless  task 
to  attempt  to  disentangle  the  exact  deeds  of  this 
one  man  from  those  of  all  the  rest,  and  it  is  surely 
only  necessary  to  consider  the  works  themselves  if 
our  aim  is  to  prove  the  reality  of  inspiration  and 
its  continuous  flow  through  all  the  ages.  Apollonius 
was  one  bright  light  shining  with  far  more  than  or- 
dinary brilliance,  but  he  was  not  a  solitary  figure, 
nor  did  he  claim  to  be  an  only  master.  We  greatly 
need  in  our  own  day  to  take  a  far  more  intelligent 
and  comprehensive  view  of  so-called  magic  and  all 
pertaining  to  it  than  can  ever  be  taken  by  any  who 
wish  to  prove  too  much  for  one  teacher  and  equally 
too  little  for  all  the  rest.  We  might  easily  cite  ex- 
amples from  an  enormous  array  of  testimony  to 
similar  works  accomplished  in  all  parts  of  the  world 
and  under  many  widely  different  auspices,  but 
enough  has  been  said  to  put  our  readers  in  the  way 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     143 

of  considering  the  claims  of  ancient  and  modern 
mystery  and  revelation,  to  the  end  that  they  may 
search  the  records  for  themselves  with  renewed  in- 
terest and  vigor,  and  we  trust  always  with  the  sole 
desire  of  discovering  truth  and  weighing  evidence 
impartially.  The  study  of  history  is  beneficial  only 
in  so  far  as  it  spurs  us  on  to  seek  to  duplicate,  if 
not  transcend,  the  good  deeds  that  have  been 
wrought  by  those  who  have  blazed  the  path  of  hu- 
man progress  before  our  day.  Century  after  cen- 
tury and  millennium  after  millennium  the  same  great 
problems  are  presented  to  humanity  for  solution,  for 
similar  needs  arise  continually  for  the  exercise  of 
that  marvelous  power  to  teach  and  heal  which  is 
the  one  indisputable  credential  of  the  true  prophet 
and  the  pure  white  magician.  It  will  be  indeed  well 
for  us  all  if,  considering  the  great  interest  now 
everywhere  displayed  in  psychic  marvels,  we  learn 
to  tread  the  consecrated  way  which  leads  to  that 
true  adepthood  which,  in  its  last  analysis,  is  the 
supreme  triumph  of  the  spirit  over  all  that  would 
fetter  its  radiant  activity  in  individual  and  in  com- 
munal life.  There  is  much  deep  significance  in  the 
following  extraordinary  testimony  to  what  Apol- 
lonius  conceived  to  be  a  mode  of  life  and  course  of 
action  conducive  to  the  most  beneficial  results.  He 
says  of  himself:  *'I  wear  a  robe  of  linen  which  as 
well  as  being  conducive  to  cleanliness  also  produces 
more  truthful  dreams.  Between  God  and  man  ex- 
ists a  bond  of  relationship,  and  by  this  is  man  in 
some  measure  a  participator  in  the  Divine  nature. 
All  are  convinced  that  the  powers  of  the  mind  and 
the  soul  are  derived  from  God,  and  that  those  are 


144     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

the  nearest  to  God  who  are  most  highly  endowed 
with  them.  The  Indian  wisdom,  to  which  the 
Egyptian  is  related,  says  that  God  created  all,  and 
the  cause  of  Creation  was  the  goodness  of  God. 
If  God  is  therefore  good,  we  may  consider  a  good 
man  as  participating  in  the  spirit  of  God.  To  what 
this  leads  he  shall  know  who  is  acquainted  with  the 
philosophy  of  Eclectics."  (Quoted  from  Enne- 
moser's  ^'History  of  Magic") 

This  philosophy  is  a  combination  of  the  purely 
Platonic  and  Pythagorean  schools,  which  are  indeed 
essentially  at  one.  As  the  dialogues  of  Plato  are 
so  easily  accessible  and  so  well  known  to  scholars, 
we  need  not  proceed  to  dilate  upon  the  leading  tenets 
of  that  glorious  Grecian  school.  Suffice  it  to  say 
that  a  sense  of  harmony  with  all  creation  is  the  one 
great  aim  and  object  of  all  true  philosophic  doc- 
trine. The  road  to  this  attainment  is  through  fol- 
lowing out  in  all  cases  the  innermost  dictates  of  one's 
own  highest  consciousness. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

^IVE  VARIETIES  OF  YOGA — UNION  OF  EASTERN  AND 
WESTERN  PHII.OSOPHY. 

There  are  five  kinds  of  Yoga,  termed  in  Sanscrit 
Karma  Yoga,  pertaining  to  Divine  Union  through 
unselfish  performance  of  duty;  Hatha  Yoga,  treat- 
ing of  Mental  and  Physical  Attainment  through  ex- 
terior disciplinary  exercises;  Raja  Yoga,  dealing 
with  Internal  Realization  of  Truth ;  Bakti  Yoga,  in- 
tended to  cultivate  conscious  union  with  Divinity 
through  performance  of  Works  of  Devotion ;  Jnana 
Yoga,  the  object  of  which  is  to  accomplish  perfect 
knowledge  of  Divine  Nature. 

The  simplest  English  equivalent  of  Yoga  is 
Union.  There  are  three  special  kinds  of  union  to 
be  effected  before  any  of  us  have  become  Yogis. 
First,  we  must  seek  to  realize  something  of  the 
mighty  truth  involved  in  the  matchless  phrase.  Di- 
vine Unity.  Far  transcending  all  limited  views  of 
Deity  is  the  magnificent  thought  of  an  all-pervading 
as  well  as  all-transcending  Deity.  According  to  the 
teachings  of  genuine  Yogis,  no  idea  of  God  can  be 
altogether  false,  neither  can  any  finite  concept  be 
entirely  true,  as  no  finite  intellect  can  possibly  en- 
circle Infinity.  We  all  entertain  just  those  ideas  of 
the  Supreme  Being  which  register  accurately  our 

146 


146     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

stage,  of  development,  and  when  this  is  clearly  un- 
derstood, all  difficulties  vanish  regarding  the  many 
discrepancies  which  abound  in  Sacred  Literature. 
Yogis  are  they  who  have  so  far  outgrown  depend- 
ence upon  outward  aids  to  devotion  that  they  can 
realize  God  everywhere  and  through  everything;  to 
them,  therefore,  all  manifestations  of  life  are  sacred. 
This  mighty  truth,  sublime  as  it  is,  like  all  other 
universal  verities,  is  easily  liable  to  misapprehension ; 
we  need  not  then  be  in  the  least  surprised  to  en- 
counter ignorant  fanaticism  associated  with  preva- 
lent ideas  of  Yoga  entertained  in  India  to-day.  It 
is  a  very  common  mistake  made  by  Western  ad- 
mirers of  Hindu  philosophy  to  take  as  true  exposi- 
tions thereof  whatever  doctrines  may  be  promul- 
gated by  any  native  teachers  from  India  who  may 
be  visiting  our  shores.  This  attitude  of  undiscrim- 
inating  acceptance  of  widely  divergent  teachings  has 
led  to  much  mental  confusion,  and  it  certainly  be- 
hooves us  to  compare  thoughtfully  one  Oriental  doc- 
trine with  another,  precisely  as  we  need  to  judge 
between  different  theories  promulgated  in  the  West. 
Between  Yogis  and  Fakirs  there  is  an  enormous  dif- 
ference, though  the  two  are  often  mischievously 
confounded.  Fakirs  are  ascetics  who  work  marvels 
which  greatly  astonish  multitudes  of  wondering 
spectators,  but  they  are  in  no  sense  Yogis,  for  such 
as  truly  practise  Yoga  are  in  no  sense  sensational 
wonder-workers,  but  profound  practical  students 
of  the  Law  of  the  Universe.  Hatha  Yoga,  which 
has  been  much  exploited  in  America  of  late,  needs 
to  be  comprehended,  at  least  in  outline,  before  we 
proceed  to  discuss  the  other  and  more  spiritual  vari- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     147 

eties,  as  this  deals  very  practically  with  training  body 
and  mind  together,  so  as  to  produce  a  healthy  ve- 
hicle through  which  the  spirit  can  act  during  in- 
carnation. 

The  topic  of  rhythmic  breathing  is  always  one  of 
extreme  interest,  as  it  lies  at  the  very  foundation  of 
all  health  exercises;  but  it  is  often  claimed  that 
methods  in  vogue  in  India  may  be  injurious  to 
Americans  and  Europeans,  owing  to  wide  differences 
in  temperament  and  general  habits  of  living.  This 
is  probably  true  to  a  certain  limited  extent,  but  by 
no  means  so  far  as  many  people  seem  to  imagine,  for 
though  heredity  and  early  training  count  for  a  good 
deal  everywhere,  it  can  never  be  injurious,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  highly  beneficial,  to  cultivate  the  ex- 
cellent habit  of  deep,  regular  breathing.  True  it  is 
that  if  we  live  naturally  from  childhood  we  shall  not 
need  to  practise  formal  breathing  exercises,  just 
as  we  shall  not  need  to  exercise  in  a  gymnasium  if 
we  accustom  ourselves  to  taking  regular  outdoor 
exercise  sufficient  to  keep  all  our  limbs  and  muscles 
normally  active.  We  cannot  on  that  account  de- 
clare that  gymnastic  exercises  are  dangerous  or 
harmful,  nor  should  we  allow  ourselves  to  discoun- 
tenance them  because  when  injudiciously  taken  they 
often  prove  highly  injurious  to  the  muscles,  which 
are  thereby  overstrained.  Hatha  Yoga  is  the  most 
popular  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  nearly  dan- 
gerous of  all  varieties  of  Yoga,  when  undertaken 
in  the  Western  world.  In  India,  the  original  home 
of  Yoga  practices,  the  native  population,  by  reason 
of  a  long  line  of  suitable  heredity,  and  also  in  con- 
sequence of  appropriate  diet  and  dress,  are  able  to 


148     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

take  many  exercises  with  impunity,  and  even  with 
decided  benefit,  which  would  soon  prove  disastrous 
to  those  Europeans  and  Americans  who  persist  in 
adhering  to  a  flesh  diet  and  to  the  wearing  of  gar- 
ments which  restrict  the  normal  activity  of  vital 
sections  of  the  body.  Without  insisting  immediately 
upon  the  adoption  of  a  strictly  vegetarian  diet,  it 
is  essential  for  all  who  make  flesh  a  staple  article 
of  food  to  at  once  greatly  diminish  the  quantity 
they  eat  and  cultivate  a  wholesome  taste  for  nu- 
tritious grains,  luscious  fruits  and  succulent  vege- 
tables which,  when  wisely  selected  and  rightfully 
prepared,  supply  all  the  nourishment  obtainable  from 
meat,  without  its  over-heating  and  iDther  injurious 
tendencies.  Clothing  also  needs  to  be  greatly  sim- 
plified, and  this  can  readily  be  accomplished  by  fol- 
lowing excellent  suggestions  given  by  Greek  as  well 
as  Hindu  costume.  The  love  of  beauty  is  natural 
and  needs  to  be  encouraged ;  so  does  an  appreciation 
of  delicate  and  delicious  flavors;  but  there  is  no 
beauty  in  unwholesome  garments,  and  no  delicious 
flavor  in  improper  food.  Simple  white  robes  should 
always  be  worn  when  taking  breathing  exercises; 
these  can  be  ornamented  to  suit  the  wearer's  taste, 
or  worn  quite  undecorated.  In  either  case  they  are 
thoroughly  hygienic.  Fruits,  vegetables  and  cereals 
can  be  eaten  cooked  or  uncooked ;  but  as  all  gar- 
ments must  be  cleanly,  so  must  all  food  be  fresh. 
Rooms  in  which  a  student  or  company  of  students 
breath  rhythmically  must  be  kept  well  ventilated, 
and  the  atmosphere  must  be  solarized  as  much  as 
possible.  This  is  a  very  important  matter,  but  one 
that  is  greatly  overlooked.     Very  many  of  the  un- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     149 

pleasant  results  of  sitting  in  Spiritualistic  seances 
are  due  far  more  to  imperfect  physical  ventilation 
than  to  any  alleged  evil  influences  in  the  spiritual 
universe,  though  it  may  be  reasonably  declared  that 
undesirable  visitors  from  unseen  states  may  find 
foul  air  a  congenial  habitat.  The  law  of  corre- 
spondences works  so  universally  and  so  completely 
that  it  manifests  its  unceasing  operation  wherever 
we  may  turn;  therefore  we  cannot  logically  deny 
that  foul  thoughts  and  bad  air  are  in  close  affinity, 
while  pure  thoughts  and  fresh  air  are  equally  near 
neighbors.  But  when  the  general  habits  and  cus- 
toms of  life  are  rational,  and  even  beautiful,  a  word 
of  caution  may  still  be  needed  for  the  over-zealous, 
who  in  their  intense  desire  to  make  rapid  progress, 
often  throw  aside  discretion.  We  cannot  remodel 
our  sub-conscious  habits  instantly,  even  though  we 
may  very  rapidly  transform  our  outward  customs, 
and  it  is  the  sub-conscious  plane  of  our  activities 
which  is  the  chief  seat  of  those  indispositions  which 
regular,  systematic  breathing  is  intended  to  correct 
It  is  usually  unwise  to  assign  the  first  or  highest 
place  to  Hatha  Yoga;  other  forms  of  Yoga  had 
better  be  considered  and  practised  at  first  by  a  large 
majority  of  persons,  in  order  to  counteract  a  per- 
nicious tendency  to  put  the  welfare  of  the  flesh 
higher  in  our  esteem  than  the  concerns  of  the  spirit. 
Nevertheless,  it  must  be  admitted  that  many  spiritu- 
ally-minded people  are  far  from  healthy  physically, 
and  this  is  chiefly  due  to  the  mistaken  notion  that 
the  care  of  the  outer  body  is  a  work  which  can  be 
left  entirely  to  those  in  whom  spiritual  conscious- 
ness is  not  yet  awakened. 


1 50     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

Rightly  and  fully  comprehended,  spirituality  is 
fulness  of  breath ;  the  very  etymology  of  the  word 
is  sufficient  to  make  this  entirely  clear,  for  our  eng- 
lish  word  spirit  is  only  the  latin  spiritus  (breath), 
abbreviated.  Spirit  and  breath  originally  mean  ex- 
actly the  same.  A  Master  breathes  on  his  disciples, 
and  they  receive  the  holy  breath,  or  spirit.  Phy- 
sical breath  may  be  rightly  regarded  as  a  vehicle 
through  which  inner  breath  or  prana  is  conveyed ; 
therefore  the  connection  between  our  inward  and  our 
outward  living  is  far  more  intimate  than  we  usually 
suppose.  During  physical  embodiment  we  cannot 
ever  attempt  to  separate  the  interests  of  the  Ego 
from  those  of  its  most  exterior  personal  sheaths, 
without  working  havoc  in  our  philosophy  and  in- 
juring the  integrity  of  our  general  mode  of  life. 
One  plane  of  expression  is  indeed  higher  and  more 
enduring  than  another,  but  all  must  duly  synchron- 
ize. The  greatest  benefits  we  can  possibly  derive 
from  any  useful  mental  and  physical  practices  must 
be  to  bring  our  minds  and  bodies  into  such  complete 
accord  that  one  never  acts  at  variance  with  the  other. 
The  good  old  saying,  "A  pure  mind  in  a  pure  body 
is  health,"  is  completely  true,  and  by  pure  must  be 
meant  free  from  confusion  as  well  as  from  pollution. 
When  we  protest  against  adulteration  in  food  or 
clothing,  we  are  often  inveighing  against  an  ad- 
mixture which  is  unwholesome  and  unlawful,  though 
no  single  ingredient  introduced  is  objectionable  in  it- 
self. Sand  in  sugar  and  cotton  mixed  with  wool 
may  be  cited  as  well-known  examples,  for  when  a 
grocer  professes  to  sell  pure  sugar  or  a  tailor  de- 
clares a  piece  of  cloth  to  be  pure  wool,  he  uses  the. 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     151 

word  to  signify  simple — i.e.,  free  from  any  ex- 
traneous element.  Pure  breath  is  snnply  fresh  air 
vitalized  with  Prana  circulating  uninterruptedly 
throughout  an  entire  body;  therefore  we  read  in 
treatises  on  Yoga  that  we  can  breathe  through  our 
bones  as  well  as  through  our  skin,  a  statement  which 
harmonizes  completely  with  all  we  know  of  the 
constitution  of  matter,  which  is  made  up  of  innu- 
merable infinitesimal  particles,  no  two  of  which 
ever  really  touch.  We  are  now  beginning  to  see  the 
wisdom  and  the  rational  application  of  many  strange 
old  sayings  and  practices  which  are  often  discarded 
by  modern  critics  as  outworn  superstitions.  Take, 
for  example,  the  Biblical  precept,  "Remove,  thy  san- 
dals from  thy  feet,  for  the  place  whereon  thou  stand- 
est  is  holy  ground."  Consecrated  temples  were  not 
only  dedicated  to  sacred  uses,  they  were  also  charged 
with  a  peculiar  atmosphere,  particularly  beneficial 
to  all  who  deliberately  opened  themselves  to  receive 
it.  In  the  temples  of  Greece,  manv  sick  people  were 
healed  by  simply  resting  in  those  beautiful  sanc- 
tuaries, though  at  other  times  specific  treatment  was 
administered  by  the  officiating  Therapeutae.  In 
Christian  churches  much  benefit  is  often  derived  by 
those  who  respond  to  a  frequent  invitation  to  quietly 
rest  and  meditate,  as  well  as  pray.  We  all  know 
how  greatly  sensitive  people  are  affected  by  an  un- 
seen atmosphere  without  knowing  what  it  is  that 
affects  them.  A  scientific  study  of  Occultism  inter- 
prets this  riddle  by  introducing  to  our  notice  subtle 
ethers  and  atmospheres  with  which  the  ordinary  un- 
trained mind  is  technically  unacquainted,  but  this 
ignorance  does  not  prevent  us   from   feeling  the 


152     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

effects  of  some  mysterious  element  which  plays  upon 
us  without  our  knowledge.  Nothing  is  more  com- 
mon than  to  exclaim,  "I  cannot  tell  how  I  caught 
that  cold,"  or,  "I  don't  know  what  makes  me  feel 
so  nervous."  On  the  other  hand,  we  are  often  most 
pleasantly  affected  by  some  mysterious  agent  with 
which  we  are  unacquainted,  but  whose  acquaintance 
we  could  easily  make  were  we  to  spend  more  time 
than  we  usually  do  spend  in  quiet  meditation,  and 
busy  ourselves  to  some  extent  with  the  study  of 
unseen  forces.  Highly  sensitive  people  usually 
thrive  far  better  in  the  open  country  or  by  the  sea- 
shore than  in  crowded  cities,  because  there  is  far 
more  Prana  where  nature  is  comparatively  unmolest- 
ed than  in  the  bewildering  hives  of  excited  human  in- 
dustry. Nature  has  her  holy  places  where  we  can 
often  derive  even  greater  benefit  than  in  the  finest 
temples  ever  built  by  human  hands ;  thus  it  follows 
that  to  go  barefooted  in  the  country  or  on  any 
grassy  slope  or  well-kept  lawn,  or  at  the  sea-shore, 
when  the  sand  is  inviting,  is  a  highly  beneficial  exer- 
cise, and  one  which  often  serves  to  remove  from  the 
body  many  impurities  which  are  the  causes  of  those 
distressing  congestions  which  only  proper  breathing 
can  permanently  prevent.  It  has  often  been  said 
during  recent  years  that  breathing  exercises  pat- 
terned after  Qriental  models  have  developed  hysteria 
and  many  other  distressing  maladies,  particularly 
in  delicate  American  women  who  have  taken  the 
exercises  without  the  guidance  of  a  competent  in- 
structor. This  may  be  the  case,  but  if  it  be  so,  it 
only  serves  to  illustrate  the  extreme  unwisdom  of 
neglecting  necessary  preliminary  caution,  for  these 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     153 

misguided  women  have  generally  worn  tight  shoes 
and  gloves,  as  well  as  other  unwholesome  garments, 
while  attempting  to  take  the  exercises,  and  they  have 
also  unduly  strained  themselves  by  endeavoring  to 
take  too  advanced  exercises  at  the  beginning  of  their 
practice.  There  is  not  the  slightest  reason  why  wo- 
men should  not  breathe  quite  as  deeply  and  steadily 
as  men,  and  they  do  so  breathe  when  they  wear 
proper  clothing  and  place  the  body  in  natural  posi- 
tion. Whoever  attempts  Yoga  breathing  should 
concentrate  completely  upon  some  great  idea  which 
can  be  readily  expressed  in  a  single  expressive  word, 
such,  for  instance,  as  courage,  rest,  truth,  or  any 
other  which  embodies  the  particular  virtue  one  now 
desires  especially  to  cultivate.  We  should  make  a 
mental  pitcure  of  the  Solar  Plexus,  imagining  it  as  a 
miniature  sun  at  the  center  of  the  organism,  it  being 
the  great  central  ganglion  behind  the  abdomen.  This 
center  is  electro-magnetically  connected  with  the 
pineal  gland,  which  Descartes  and  other  philosophers 
have  truly  declared  to  be  the  vital  center  in  the 
brain  whence  the  soul  operates  by  means  of  influx 
into  all  sections  of  the  body.  When  perfect  har- 
mony is  obtained  between  the  brain  center  and  the 
abdominal  center,  there  can  be  no  disease  in  the 
system,  because  all  functions  are  properly  dis- 
charged, and  the  whole  body  is  completely  vitalized 
and  ventilated.  The  Yogis  of  India  must  never 
be  confounded  with  the  Fakirs,  for  the  latter  do 
themselves  physical  injury  in  their  attempt  to  de- 
velop abnormal  powers,  and  though  they  often  suc- 
ceed in  performing  wonderful  feats  of  magic,  they 
do  not  perform  works  of  healing,  nor  do  they  really 


154    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

add  anything  to  the  useful  knowledge  of  those  who 
witness  their  weird  exhibitions.  The  Yogis,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  both  teachers  and  healers,  and  set 
before  their  students  high  examples  of  noble  living, 
for  they  have  gained  complete  control  over  all  their 
appetites,  and  are  in  every  sense  truly  exemplary  in 
conduc-t.  When  we  come  to  consider,  one  by  one, 
the  several  varieties  of.  Yoga  practice  already  enu- 
merated, we  shall  soon  discover  that  they  may  be 
compared  with  five  digits  of  a  single  hand,  or  five 
branches  of  a  tree,  all  growing  out  of  one  palm  or 
ramifying  from  a  single  trunk.  Karma  Yoga  is  the 
Sanscrit  name  for  the  unselfish  performance  of  one's 
constant  duty,  regardless  of  the  varying  forms  that 
duty  may  from  time  to  time  assume.  This  is  the 
work  of  the  householder,  and  of  the  man  of  affairs, 
and  has  nothing  to  do  with  those  peculiar  practices 
which  belong  to  the  work  and  training  of  those  who 
virtually  retire  from  the  world  to  devote  themselves 
to  a  solitary  contemplative  life,  in  which  most  of 
us  can  take  no  part.  The  word  duty,  though  a  very 
common  word,  is  not  always  easy  to  define,  seeing 
that  it  is  not  properly  applied  to  ail  those  numerous 
performances  which  people  go  through  with  at  the 
behest  of  foolish  customs,  or  to  gratify  the  caprices 
of .  members  of  their  families.  Many  a  man  and 
many  a  woman  is  sacrificed  unsparingly  to  false 
ideas  of  duty,,  and  instead  of  receiving  the  blessing 
of  gratitude  from  others,  or  the  inward  approval  of 
one's  own  conscience,  nothing  but  ingratitude  from 
without  and  discontent  within  repays  his  or  her  mis- 
taken eflforts.  Duty  is  always  reasonable,  and  its 
performance  must  conduce  in  some  way  to  the  en- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     155 

largement  and  ennoblement  of  life;  it  must  have 
a  tendency  to  raise  the  moral,  intellectual  and  phy- 
sical condition  of  all  who  are  influenced  by  it;  it 
cannot  therefore  be  reasonably  associated  with  a 
ceaseless  round  of  occupations  which  bring  no  benefit 
to  those  who  undertake  them  or  to  any  who  are  di- 
rectly affected  by  them.  Strange  as  the  phrase  may 
sound,  we  often  have  to  neglect  one  duty  to  dis- 
charge another;  but  this  is,  of  course,  never  the 
case  except  in  seeming,  for  real  duties  do  not  and 
cannot  conflict.  It  can  never  be  anyone's  duty  to 
be  in  two  places  at  once,  so  long  as  it  remains  im- 
possible, but  it  often  appears  as  though  one  ought  to 
be  there.  Now  the  particular  use  of  right  medita- 
tion is  to  put  us  on  the  track  which  will  enable  us 
to  clearly  perceive  what  is  the  one  thing  we  really 
ought  to  do  just  now,  and  where  is  the  identical 
place  in  which  we  ought  to  do  it.  Interior  illumina- 
tion may  show  us  this,  and  we  can  then  set  to  work 
at  once  to  perform  the  definite  duty  pertaining  to  a 
particular  moment. 

When  we  feel  inwardly  thoroughly  convinced 
that  something  is  our  duty  then  we  must  meet  and 
conquer  whatever  obstacle,  inducement  or  tempta- 
tion would  lead  us  off  in  some  other  direction;  and 
though  at  first  we  may  find  it  difficult  to  silence  all 
conflicting  voices  and  learn  to  pay  no  heed  to  any 
distracting  solicitations,  a  little  regular  practice 
faithfully  persisted  in  will  soon  develop  within  us 
such  a  mental  habit  that  we  almost  spontaneously 
do  the  very  things  which  aforetime  seemed  her- 
culean tasks  almost  beyond  our  strength  to  accom- 
plish.    The  sub-self  or  sub-conscious  mind  soon 


156     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

gets  into  a  good  habit  if  we  persist  in  educating  it, 
and  when  we  have  once  formed  a  good  habit  we 
need  never  loosen  our  hold  upon  it,  because  indulg- 
ence in  it  can  only  redound  to  our  own  benefit  and  to 
the  welfare  of  all  with  whom  we  are  associated.  It 
is  always  at  the  very  outset  of  a  pmctice  that  we 
encounter  the  greatest  difficulties;  that  is  why  we 
so  often  abandon  the  race  when,  if  we  did  but  per- 
sist in  running  it,  we  should  be  abundantly  repaid 
for  all  our  arduous  efforts.  In  the  practice  of  Yoga 
we  need  only  to  cultivate  dispositions  and  methods 
necessary  to  success  in  every  conceivable  line  of 
human  enterprise.  Diligence  in  well-doing  is  the 
only  road  to  victory.  Another  phase  of  Yoga, 
Bakti-Yoga,  concerns  the  performance  of  certain 
works  of  devotion  which  have  for  their  object 
bringing  the  student  into  ever  fuller  realization  of 
the;  oneness  of  all  lives.  These  works  are  some- 
times of  a  definitely  regulated  and  even  stereotyped 
nature,  closely  resembling  the  formal  ritualistic 
exercises  of  many  types  of  Christians  who  find  it 
beneficial  to  perform  particular  acts  of  devotion  at 
stated  intervals  and  in  an  unvarying  manner,  such 
for  instance  as  the  Roman  Catholic  recitation  of  the 
Rosary.  Others  again  consider  such  mechanical 
religious  performances  as  hindrances  rather  than 
helps  to  real  devotion ;  but  these  people  are  by  no 
means  undevout,  they  are  simply  of  such  tempera- 
ment that  nothing  helps  them  which  is  not  spon- 
taneous. Very  great  wisdom  is  displayed  in  the 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul  where  the  subject  of  ceremonial 
devotion  is  quite  elaborately  discussed,  for  the 
apostle  sums  up  all  his  advice  in  the  memorable 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     157 

admonition,  "Let  every  man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his 
own  mind."  We  are  very  much  mistaken  if  we 
imagine  that  Hindoos  or  any  other  type  of  Asiatics 
are  all  possessed  of  the  same  turn  of  mind,  or  that 
all  find  it  profitable  to  seek  spiritual  enlightenment 
along  a  single  pathway,  for  we  can  find  fully  as 
much  variety  among  the  native  populations  in  Asia 
as  among  Europeans  or  Americans,  some  of  whom 
naturally  incline  to  the  rigid  simplicity  of  the 
Quaker,  while  others  are  drawn  to  the  most  elabor- 
ate pomp  and  ceremony.  There  is  nothing  surpris- 
ing in  this  when  we  look  at  external  nature,  which 
presents  to  us  an  unending  variety  of  types  and 
phenomena,  and  just  as  every  kind  of  animal  has 
its  own  peculiar  needs  which  must  be  appropriately 
met  if  that  creature  is  to  thrive  truly,  so  is  it  that 
in  human  life  varieties  of  disposition  and  require- 
ment are  even  more  numerous  and  widely  diversi- 
fied, so  that  what  is  highly  beneficial  for  some,  is 
positively  detrimental  to  others.  Works  of  devo- 
tion cannot  always  be  clearly  separated  from  the 
performance  of  common  duties,  for  one  melts 
imperceptibly  into  the  other.  The  apostolic  injunc- 
tions, "Pray  without  ceasing,"  and  "In  everything 
give  thanks,"  would  have  no  meaning  were  it  not 
possible  to  carry  the  spirit  of  devotion  into  every 
ordinary  exercise,  and  certainly  if  this  were  not  so 
such  words  as  "Whether  you  eat,  drink,  or  what- 
soever you  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God,"  would 
be  utterly  incomprehensible.  We  are  now  again 
tracing  a  vivid  parallel  between  Oriental  philosophy 
and  primitive  Christianity,  which  when  rightly 
studied  causes  us  to  treat  with  utter  contempt  those 


158     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

absurd  denunciations  of  Oriental  religions  which 
still  disfigure  Christian  hymnbooks  and  lead  many 
advocates  of  Foreign  Missions  to  make  such  ignor- 
ant and  misleading  statements  that  the  good  work 
they  are  endeavoring  to  accomplish  must  of  neces- 
sity be  very  greatly  handicapped  by  the  total  failure 
of  these  self-appointed  missionaries  to  understand 
the  people  among  whom  they  endeavor  to  accom- 
plish their  work  of  proselytizing.     ''The  heathen  in 
his  blindness  bows  down  to  wood  and  stone"  is  a 
stupid   falsehood   found  in  the  very  heart  of  an 
extremely  popular  hymn.    What  good  congregations 
expect    to    accomplish    by    singing    such    trash    is 
difficult  to  understand,  for  it  cannot  lift  the  minds 
of  the  singers  to  any  high  appreciation  of  divine 
wisdom  when  they  declare  in  a  preceding  sentence, 
"In  vain  with  lavish  kindness  the  gifts  of  God  are 
strewn."    The  reverential  Hindoo  has  far  too  deep 
a  sense  of  the  wisdom  of  Deity  to  believe  that  God 
does    anything    in    vain,    and    every    enlightened 
Oriental   is   far  too   intelligent,   and   also   far   too 
kindly,  to  utter  such  misleading  nonsense  concern- 
ing well-meaning  people  who  do  not  speak  his  lan- 
guage or  profess  his  creed,  but  who  do  engage  in 
works  of  devotion  very  similar  to  his  own.  The  more 
we  study  Oriental  philosophy  the  more  do  we  feel 
inclined  to  advocate  the  formation  of  a  "Mind  Your 
Own    Business    Society"   to   offset   the   pernicious 
influence  of  those  mistaken  missionary  endeavors 
which  are  no  doubt  founded  in  good  motive,  but 
display  total  ignorance  of  the  work  which  needs  to 
be  done  in  so-called  heathen  countries,   where  it 
certainly  is  desirable  to  stimulate  a  large  percentage 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     159 

of  the  natives  to  loftier  practices  than  those  they 
now  indulge,  and  to  induce  them  to  give  up  many 
degrading  superstitions.  But  as  we  are  also  super- 
stitious to  some  extent  in  many  directions,  we  can 
all  learn  from  each  other  what  to  cultivate  and 
what  to  avoid,  seeing  that  we  are  all,  properly  speak- 
ing, pupil-teachers  rather  than  altogether  pupils  or 
altogether  teachers  in  the  school  of  life.  Many  a 
Protestant  regards  a  great  part  of  Roman  Catholic 
devotion  as  unadulterated  idolatry,  and  many  a 
Roman  Catholic  takes  exactly  the  same  view  of  the 
means  of  devotion  employed  in  Oriental  countries, 
though  the  outward  forms  are  so  nearly  identical 
that  an  impartial  observer  would  regard  one  exactly 
as  he  would  look  upon  the  other.  Now  these  mon- 
otonous repetitions  of  words  and  movements  may 
mean  very  much  to  some  people,  while  they  mean 
nothing  at  all  to  others,  therefore  it  is  only  fair 
that  we  should  let  those  people  enjoy  them  who 
receive  benefit  from  their  use,  without  adopting 
them  ourselves  unless  we  honestly  feel  that  we  could 
derive  help  from  them,  in  which  case  we  have  a 
perfect  right  to  use  them.  We  are  usually  inclined 
to  sneer  at  the  practices  of  others  when  they  appear 
to  us  ridiculous,  though  we  are  very  apt  indeed  to 
become  hurt  or  resentful  when  others  laugh  at  our 
peculiarities.  This  is  a  certain  mark  of  foolish  self- 
conceit  coupled  with  less  than  due  regard  for  the 
rights  of  others.  Works  of  devotion  are,  however, 
by  no  means  confined  to  ritual  observances  even  in 
India  or  Ceylon,  though  in  that  part  of  the  world 
the  practice  of  religious  ceremonial  enters  quite  as 
largely  into  the  daily  life  of  the  people  as  it  does 


i6o    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

into  the  life  of  the  extremely  orthodox  Oriental 
Jew  who  counts  it  a  great  delight  to  observe  punctil- 
iously  the   613    precepts   of   the   Torah,   many   of 
which  appear  useless  and  antiquated  to  the  modern 
Israelites   of   Europe   and   America.      A  work  of 
devotion  is,  properly  speaking,  any  work  undertaken 
in  a  devout  spirit  and  performed  in  reverent  frame 
of  mind,  but  as  objects  of  devotion  are  very  varied, 
we  cannot  classify  all  devout  actions  under  a  single 
heading.     We  often  speak  correctly  of  devotion  to 
one's  country,  to  an  honored  cause,  to  the  welfare 
of  one's  family,  and  also  to  art,  science,  and  busi- 
ness.    The  kind  of  work  in  which  we  engage  re- 
ceives its  spiritual  quality  from  the  motive  which 
prompts  it,  and  the  disposition  which  pervades  it, 
therefore  we  are  very  likely  to   fall   into   serious 
error  if  we  ever  attempt  to  call  certain  definite  ex- 
ternal acts  works  of  devotion  in  any  exclusive  sense. 
Writing  a  letter  may  be  a  thoroughly  devout  act, 
and  it  may  accomplish  untold  benefit  and  bring  a 
great  blessing  upon  the  writer,  or  the  letter  written 
may  be  merely  frivolous,  and  so  nearly  unimportant 
that  we  can  trace  no  definite  result  from  its  pro- 
duction, or  again  it  may  be  written  with  a  malicious 
motive  and  work  great  havoc.     In  these  three  in- 
stances exactly  the  same  writing  materials  may  have 
been  employed  in  all  cases,  each  letter  might  contain 
the  same  number  of  words  in  the  same  language, 
and  all  three  be  sent  at  the  same  time  to  the  same 
city  at  the  same  rate  of  postage.      Now,  could  any- 
thing be  more  ridiculous  than  to  attempt  to  dis- 
course upon  the  morality  or  immorality  of  writing 
an  epistle  of  a  certain  length  with  a  particular  kind 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     i6i 

of  ink  on  a  certain  grade  of  paper,  and  after  having 
written  it  send  it  to  a  particular  destination?  But 
such  a  discourse  would  be  no  more  unreasonable 
than  one  which  undertakes  to  measure  or  determine 
the  value  or  demerit  of  any  outward  action  without 
taking  into  account  the  object  of  its  performance 
and  the  mental  state  of  the  performer.  Yoga,  then, 
cannot  be  reduced  to  the  level  of  mechanism,  though 
we  may  use  mechanical  means  in  its  performance, 
just  as  we  all  employ  writing  materials  equally 
when  we  are  engaged  in  epistolary  correspondence 
of  the  highest  merit  and  quite  the  reverse.  We  have 
now  entered  a  field  of  thought  in  which  we  can 
glean  many  profitable  harvests,  if  we  carry  steadily 
with  us  the  one  all-important  feeling  that  we  can 
obtain  blessing,  no  matter  what  we  are  doing,  or 
how  we  may  be  circumstanced,  provided  we  in- 
variably determine  to  infuse  into  all  our  words  and 
actions  a  benefic  spirit  of  resolute  determination  to 
bless  humanity  through  all  our  undertakings. 


CHAPTER   X. 

EZ^KHei^'S    WHKE:!. — WHAT    IT    SIGNIF^IES. — ASTROIv- 
OI^OGY  IN  PROPHECY. 

Among  the  many  remarkable  chapters  in  the 
amazingly  symbolic  book  of  the  Prophet  Ezekiel, 
the  Tenth  is  in  some  respects  the  most  highly  em- 
blematical of  all,  and,  unless  it  is  clearly  understood 
that  it  describes  a  vivid  vision  and  is  in  no  sense 
intended  to  be  taken  literally,  it  must  certainly 
appear  entirely  incomprehensible.  But  let  us  make 
an  endeavor  to  interpret,  in  some  degree  at  least, 
its  marvellous  imagery,  and  as  we  peer  below  the 
depths  of  its  astounding  letter  we  shall  soon  begin 
to  catch  some  glimpses  of  its  many  deeper  aspects. 
Were  we  to  attempt  to  exhaust  the  meaning  of  the 
vision  by  any  single  attempt  at  interpretation  we 
should  defeat  the  very  end  we  have  in  view,  which 
is  only  to  suggest  some  few  thoughts  which  may 
be  helpful  to  students  who  are  seeking  a  key  to  the 
inner  sanctuary  of  symbolic  literature  which  is  now 
beginning  to  be  widely  dealt  with  in  an  entirely 
superhistorical  manner.  Prophetical  imagery  may 
have  both  a  local  and  a  superlocal  significance,  by 
which  we  mean  that  certain  events  symbolically 
described  or  foretold  may  have  particular  reference 
to  a  special  age  and  people  in  an  immediate  sense, 

162 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     163 

and  at  the  same  time  be  susceptible  of  much  wider 
application.  The  writers  of  headings  of  pages  in 
the  King  James  version  of  the  English  Bible  took 
amazing,  and  often  entirely  unwarranted,  liberties 
with  their  often  very  poor  translation  of  the 
Hebrew  text,  and  it  is  these  chapter-headings  which 
have  led  to  a  vast  amount  of  the  misapprehension 
which  extensively  prevails  as  to  the  real  meaning 
of  the  original.  In  the  case  of  the  chapter  now 
before  us  this  annoyance  is  not  encountered,  foi 
the  headings  are  simply  descriptiv/e,  viz.,  "Vision 
of  the  coals  of  fire  and  of  the  Cherubim."  The 
man  clothed  with  linen,  who  is  a  very  prominent 
character  in  many  of  Ezekiel's  visions,  may  fairly 
be  considered  as  one  of  those  many  angelic  mes- 
sengers of  whom  we  read  continually,  all  of  whom 
are  described  as  clad  in  pure  white  raiment,  for  at 
least  two  reasons :  First,  because  all  ambassadors 
sent  forth  by  esoteric  confraternities  are  invariably 
clad  in  white  garments,  and,  secondly,  because  clair- 
voyant vision  in  all  ages  has  enabled  seers  to  behold 
the  luminous  white  aura  which  radiates  from  all 
celestial  messengers  whether  in  the  incarnate  or 
excarnate  state.  The  cherubs,  who  also  play  an 
important  part  among  the  characters  in  the  vision, 
represented  in  olden  times  souls  not  yet  terrestrially 
embodied,  but  awaiting  incarnation,  for  the  seers 
of  every  age  and  country  have  testified  unanimously 
to  spiritual  pre-existence.  The  resemblance  traced 
between  a  sapphire  and  a  celestial  throne  suggests 
immediately  the  time-honored  significance  of  that 
extremely  beauteous  gem,  always  a  type  of  wis- 
dom, sincerity,  and  constancy    Obtaining  fire  from 


164    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

heaven  and  scattering  it  over  the  earth  is  a  symbol 
to  be  met  with  throughout  almost  the  entire  range 
of  classic  literature,  the  well-known  story  of  Pro- 
metheus being  a  highly  typical  example.  Fire  has 
occupied  a  place  of  singular  honor  among  all 
nations,  and  as  a  religious  emblem  it  has  always 
held  the  center  of  the  stage,  and  deservedly  so  when 
we  consider  its  three  leading  and  distinctive  proper- 
ties, which  are  to  enlighten,  to  purify,  and  to  warm. 
Heat,  light  and  purification  are  instantly  suggested 
with  the  thought  of  fire,  and  therefore  the  great 
alchemical  work  of  transmutation  is  symbolized 
thereby.  Much  that  refers  to  profound  and  awe- 
inspiring  initiatory  rites  is  conveyed  by  this  far- 
reaching  symbol.  The  man  in  white  raiment  going 
in  and  out  of  the  mystic  flame  represents  a  thor- 
oughly developed  hierophant,  one  who  has  truly 
passed  through  the  mystic  death  and  attained  to 
the  glorious  freedom  of  the  new  life  of  the  risen 
and  regenerate.  The  wings  of  the  cherubim  denote 
ability  to  pass  through  air  or  ether  as  easily  as 
birds  can  fly  and  fishes  swim,  and  doubtless  with  far 
greater  rapidity.  A  comparison  of  the  sound  made 
by  the  motion  of  the  wings  of  the  cherubim  to  the 
voice  of  the  Almighty  when  speaking,  is  a  clear 
reference  to  the  very  ancient  and  wide-spread  idea 
that  GOD  speaks  to  humanity  on  earth  through  the 
agency  of  angels.  All  revelations  must  of  necessity 
be  accommodated  to  the  state  of  receptivity  of  those 
to  whom  they  are  addressed,  for  where  there  is  no 
comprehension  there  can  be  no  revelation,  a  reve- 
lation necessitating  a  comprehender  as  well  as  a 
revelator.     According  to  some  commentators  the 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     165 

wheels  among  which  the  man  in  white  raiment 
stands  have  an  astrological  significance,  and  in  that 
curious  book,  "Art  Magic,"  which  gives  much  in- 
formation of  an  unusual  character,  we  find  an 
illustration  of  Ezekiel's  Wheel  intended  to  set  forth 
the  astrological  idea  of  ascending  Macrocosmos  and 
descending  Microcosmos.  Six  signs  of  the  Zodiac, 
Aries,  Taurus,  Gemini,  Cancer,  Leo,  Virgo,  are  on 
the  line  of  ascent.  Libra,  the  seventh  sign,  is  the 
turning-point  or  balance  of  the  scale.  Scorpio, 
Sagittarius,  Capricorn,  Aquarius,  Pisces,  are  on  the 
descending  line.  The  wheels  within  wheels  accord- 
ing to  this  rendering  refer  plainly  to  the  different 
Houses  of  the  Sun,  as  the  twelve  signs  of  the  Zodiac 
are  termed.  In  each  of  these  Houses  humanity 
accomplishes  some  special  work,  and  during  each 
Grand  Cycle  of  25,840  years  our  Sun  passes 
through  these  twelve  Houses,  just  as  our  little  earth 
goes  through  them  in  a  trifle  over  365  days. 

The  four  special  signs  described  as  having  re- 
spectively the  face  of  a  cherub,  a  man,  a  lion,  and 
an  eagle,  are  the  four  so-called  Fixed  Signs  of  the 
Zodiac.  These  are  Aquarius,  Scorpio,  Leo,  Taurus. 
Aquarius  is  familiar  to  all  of  us  as  the  man  with 
the  watering-pot;  Leo  is  the  lion,  Taurus  is  the 
winged  cherub  as  frequently  represented  in  ancient 
symbolic  art;  Scorpio  is  the  eagle  and  has  been  so 
represented  as  to  its  spiritual  significance  from  ages 
immemorial.  Christian  art  has  employed  these 
symbols  to  characterize  the  four  Evangelists,  that 
is  why  we  so  frequently  behold  an  eagle  lectern  in 
a  Christian  church;  though  its  more  ancient  and 
universal  significance  is  rarely  mentioned  except  by 


1 66    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

students  of  astrology,  who  naturally  wish  to  prove 
the  relationship  between  their  own  modern  teach- 
ing and  the  wisdom  of  the  ancient  prophets. 
Astrology  must  always  be  to  some  extent  under  a 
ban  until  its  professors  everywhere  disclaim  all  con- 
nection with  fatalism  and  with  pessimism,  for  these 
twin  errors  rob  astrology  of  all  the  good  it  might 
otherwise  accomplish.  Idle  curiosity  may  prompt 
many  people  to  pry  into  the  future  without  any 
belief  that  they  can  profitably  utilize  the  knowledge 
they  obtain,  but  the  serious-minded,  who  are  ever 
seeking  for  profitable  instruction,  can  never  take 
interest  in  any  predictions  which  do  not  serve  to 
encourage  those  who  listen  to  them  to  buckle  on  their 
spiritual  armor  and  conquer  whatever  conditions 
would  prove  adverse  did  we  allow  them  to  triumph 
over  us  when  it  is  our  mission  and  prerogative  to 
rise  above  them,  by  meeting  these  seeming  adver- 
saries not  as  foes  to  be  exterminated  but  as  neces- 
sary material  for  purposes  of  eventual  transmuta- 
tion into  forms  as  unlike  the  original  as  an  eagle 
is  unlike  a  scorpion.  These  four  very  extraordinary 
Living  Creatures  mentioned  in  Ezekiel  reappear  in 
the  Apocalypse,  which  is  a  most  significant  illustra- 
tion of  the  widespread  use  of  an  identical  sym- 
bology.  These  are  Masonic  as  well  as  Astrologic 
emblems  and  are  doubtless  well  comprehended  by 
those  comparatively  few  really  distinguished 
Masons  who  peer  into  the  esoteric  meaning  of 
Masonic  rites  and  are  far  from  satisfied  with  bare 
initiation  into  the  outer  fringe  of  the  Masonic  gar- 
ment. But  however  deeply  versed  in  Masonic  lore 
the  ancient   prophets   may  have  been,   they  were 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     167 

before  and  above  all  else  exhorters  of  the  people 
unto  civic  as  well  as  private  righteousness. 

The  highly  important  significance  of  the  trans- 
formation of  Scorpio  into  Aquilla  (the  Eagle)  has 
always  been  regarded  as  the  accomplishment  of  the 
Magnum  Opus  of  the  Alchemists,  who  were  always 
accustomed  to  veil  their  profound  esoteric  teach- 
ings concerning  human  regeneration  under  a  general 
symbolism  pertaining  to  the  literal  transmutation 
of  metals,  a  feat  which  doubtless  was,  to  some  ex- 
tent, actually  accomplished  by  those  well  versed  in 
mystic  chemistry.  But  as  the  noblest  and  most 
trustworthy  Rosicrucians,  and  all  other  students  of 
genuine  alchemy,  invariably  declared  that  no  one 
could  become  a  true  White  Magician  until  he  had 
overcome  all  cupidity,  the  literal  production  of 
material  gold  was  a  decidedly  unimportant  work  in 
the  estimation  of  those  great  Magicians  who  made 
the  regeneration  of  humanity,  individually  and  col- 
lectively, the  one  supreme  object  of  their  indefatig- 
able exertions.  Earth,  Air,  Fire,  Water,  like  North, 
South,  East,  West,  are  employed  in  mystical  writ- 
ings as  significant  of  the  four  chief  divisions  of 
human  life  in  all  directions.  The  four  typical  rivers 
watering  the  Garden  of  Eden  are,  alchemically  con- 
sidered, the  four  great  arteries  which  are  the  river- 
courses  of  the  blood.  The  four  rivers  enumerated 
in  Genesis  may  well  be  thought  to  have  some  con- 
nection with  the  four  Living  Creatures  mentioned 
elsewhere  in  the  Bible.  Pison  stands  for  the  in- 
nominate artery  which  supplies  blood  to  the  right 
side  of  the  head  and  to  the  right  arm  and  hand. 
Gihon  represents  the  second  great  artery  at  the  arch 


1 68     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

of  the  aorta — the  left  common  carotid — which  sup- 
plies the  left  side  of  the  head  and,  through  the 
''Circle  of  Willis,"  can  also  supply  the  right  side  of 
the  brain.  Iliddekel  refers  to  that  which  furnishes 
blood  to  the  upper  portion  of  the  left  hand. 
Euphrates  stands  for  the  descending  aorta,  which 
supplies  the  lungs  and  all  organs  below  them,  includ- 
ing the  major  sections  of  the  chest  and  stomach. 
Keeping  in  constant  remembrance  the  relation  be- 
tween Macrocosm  and  Microcosm  we  shall  experi- 
ence little,  if  any,  difficulty  in  tracing  the  vital  unity 
of  these  several  correspondences,  for  though  at  first 
there  may  appear  but  a  very  slight  and  chiefly  fanci- 
ful connection  between  the  Signs  of  the  Zodiac  and 
the  different  sections  of  the  human  body,  no  sooner 
have  we  grasped  something  of  the  inevitable  impli- 
cations of  the  microcosmical  idea  than  we  see  at 
once  that  the  constellations  and  all  they  signify  are 
not  only  without,  but  also  most  verily  within  every 
one  of  us.  At  the  very  outset  of  any  practical  in- 
struction in  astrology  it  is  highly  essential  that  the 
teacher  should  seek  to  remove  the  prevailing  fallacy 
that  when  we  are  treating  of  planetary  influences  we 
are  alluding  only  to  such  as  are  exerted  over  us  by 
bodies  distant  many  millions  of  miles  from  this 
earth. 

Every  influence  exerted  upon  us  from  without 
must  have  its  correspondence  within,  otherwise  we 
could  not  be  affected  by  it.  It  is  because  we  are 
universes  in  minimum  that  we  can  know  and  feel 
something  of  the  greater  Universe  outside.  Her- 
metic Philosophy  is  the  only  adequate  reconciler  of 
physics  with  metaphysics  and  of  idealistic  with  real- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     169 

istic  philosophy,  for  in  the  light  of  Hermetism  we 
can  readily  comprehend  how  our  bodily  senses  can 
be  entirely  trustworthy,  so  far  as  their  testimony 
extends,  and  at  the  same  time  agree  with  the  idealist 
who  insists  that  all  that  we  perceive  is  within  the 
consciousness  of  the  percipient,  for  it  is  within  us 
and  without  us  at  the  same  instant,  precisely  as  there 
is  air  in  our  bodies  at  the  same  time  there  must  ever 
be  a  far  greater  volume  of  atmosphere  outside. 
Prophetic  visions  always  introduce  us  to  that  uni- 
versal sign  and  symbol  language  in  which  we 
usually  dream,  and  which  generally  greatly  baffles 
us  until  we  have  found  a  key  to  its  interpretation. 


CHAPTER   XL 

EMANUEIv  SWEDKNBORG  AND  HIS  DOCTRINE  OF 
CORRESPONDENCES. 

Whatever  estimate  we  may  seek  to  place  upon 
some  of  the  doctrines  of  the  great  Swedish  philos- 
opher and  seer,  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  overlook  fairly  his  enormous  contribution 
to  spiritual  and  liberal  religious  and  philosophic 
thought,  for  though  many  of  his  followers  are  ex- 
tremely conservative,— and  apparently  intolerant  of 
all  claims  to  modern  illumination  after  the  time  of 
Swedenborg, — no  narrowness  on  the  part  of  sub- 
sequent generations  can  remove  any  lustre  from  the 
career  of  the  highly  learned  and  truly  marvellous 
man  to  whom  we  are  all  very  deeply  indebted  for 
calling  renewed  attention  to  very  ancient  ideas  con- 
cerning Holy  Scriptures  quite  at  variance  with  the 
conventional  orthodoxy  of  his  period.  As  a  dis- 
tinguished man  of  science  and  of  letters,  also  as  a 
marvellous  clairvoyant,  Swedenborg  shines  forth 
brilliantly  in  contrast  with  the  general  dulness  and 
deadness  of  his  age.  The  i8th  century  was 
remarkable  for  the  prevalence  of  cold  religious 
formalism  and  much  looseness  in  morality,  and  to 
counteract  both  these  depressing  tendencies  Sweden- 
borg worked  with  skill  and  energy  truly  marvellous 

170 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     171 

The  literary  output  of  this  amazing  writer  would 
be  wonderful  if  judged  from  the  superficial  stand- 
point of  voluminousness  alone,  but  when  we  take 
into  account  the  extreme  excellence  of  this  enor- 
mous mass  of  literary  material  we  cannot  feel  other 
than  convinced  that  we  are  in  the  presence  of  a 
mind  trained  and  cultured  far  beyond  the  ordinary. 
As  the  religious  denomination  known  as  Sweden- 
borgian  has  for  a  great  many  years  been  indus- 
triously circulating  many  of  Swedenborg's  theo- 
logical writings,  either  gratuitously  or  at  merely 
nominal  cost,  the  reading  public  is  fairly  well  ac- 
quainted with  "Heaven  and  Hell;"  "Divine  Provi- 
dence" ;  "Divine  Love  and  Wisdom,"  and  several 
other  of  the  smaller  books,  but  we  doubt  if  veiV 
many,  apart  from  special  students,  have  waded 
through  "  Arcana  Coelestia,  "  "  Apocalypse  Un- 
veiled ;"  or  even  "The  True  Christian  Religion ;"  all 
of  which  are  decidedly  bulky  volumes  and  written 
in  that  precise,  leisurely,  scholarly  style  which  shows 
their  author  to  have  been  a  singularly  careful,  and 
evidently  unhasting,  though  wonderfully  fertile 
writer.  To  appreciate  in  any  due  degree  the  revo- 
lutionary character  of  Swedenborg's  method  of 
dealing  with  the  accepted  Bible  of  his  day  and 
country,  we  must  remember  that  though  he  stren- 
uously insists  that  there  are  two  interior  senses — 
Spiritual  and  Celestial — within  the  literal,  which  he 
calls  the  Natural  sense  of  those  portions  of  the  Bible 
which  he  says  are  verily  the  Divine  Word,  he  by  no 
means  allows  that  the  entire  66  documents  which 
constitute  the  Holy  Bible  of  Protestant  Christen- 
dom are  to  be  regarded  as  an  absolutely  divine 


172     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

revelation.  On  the  contrary,  he  places  them  just 
about  where  the  Church  of  England  places  the 
Apocrypha,  which  it  recommends  for  reading,  even 
in  church  services,  but  to  which  it  assigns  no  such 
authority  as  to  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 

The  Pentateuch,  or  Torah,  according  to  Sweden- 
borg,  is  indeed  a  divine  revelation,  but  not  exter- 
nally as  touching  literal  history,  sacrifices,  and  vari- 
ous ceremonial  observances,  but  as  to  an  interior 
meaning  which  has  to  do,  primarily,  not  with 
man's  outer  formation,  but  with  the  7  stages  of 
human  regeneration,  which  are  spiritually  set  forth 
in  the  opening  chapter  of  Genesis.  It  is  quite  easy 
to  see  how  complacently  Swedenborgians  smiled  at 
that  revolutionary  Darwinism  which  convulsed  the 
religious,  as  well  as  the  scientific,  world  during  the 
middle  of  the  19th  Century,  for  the  doctrine  of 
correspondences  could  not  be  adversely  affected  if 
it  were  proved  that  man  had  been  on  earth  millions 
of  years  instead  of  only  6,000.  It  is  extremely 
interesting  to  look  up  interior  meanings  in  Sweden- 
borg's  '^Dictionary  of  Correspondences,"  for  there 
we  are  told  that  Balaam's  ass  represented  his  nat- 
ural affection  for  good,  and  that  saved  him  from 
destruction  when  the  direful  consequences  of  his 
disobedience  to  Divine  direction  were  ready  to  over- 
whelm him.  To  many  minds  such  a  mode  of 
exegesis  must  appear  arbitrary  and  far-fetched  in 
the  extreme,  but  such  is  not  necessarily  the  case  if 
we  take  into  consideration  the  Hermetic  method  of 
teaching,  which  virtually  all  Mystics,  alike  of 
ancient  and  modern  periods,  have  insisted  upon  as 
the  only  really  important  aspect  of  any  edifying 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     173 

and  spiritually  enlightening  literature.  It  cannot  be 
seriously  admitted  by  thoughtful  minds  that  a  rec- 
ord of  merely  exterior  events  in  human  history  'is 
specially  revealed  from  Heaven,  but  it  is  conceivable 
that  outward  narratives  have  been  used  illustratively 
and  allegorically  to  enshrine  teachings  of  the  utmost 
value  through  all  succeeding  generations. 

As  there  can  be  no  completer  summary  of  Swed- 
enborg's  teaching,  as  to  its  foundations,  than  his 
dissertation  concerning  the  interior  meaning  of  the 
seven  "days"  of  Genesis,  we  append  his  interpreta- 
tions translated  from  the  original  Latin  (the  lan- 
guage in  which  he  always  wrote)  contained  in  that 
intensely  interesting  work  "The  Life  and  Mission 
of  Emanuel  Swedenborg"  by  Benjamin  Worcester. 
The  six  days,  or  times,  which  are  so  many  success- 
ive states  of  man's  regeneration,  are  in  general  as 
follows:  The  First  state  is  that  which  precedes, 
both  from  infancy  and  immediately  before  regener- 
ation, and  it  is  called  a  void,  emptiness  and  thick- 
darkness.  And  the  first  movement,  which  is  the 
mercy  of  the  Lord,  is  the  spirit  of  God  moving 
itself  upon  the  face  of  the  waters. 

The  Second  state  is  when  distinction  is  made  be- 
tween the  things  which  are  the  Lord's  and  those 
which  are  man's  own;  those  which  are  the  Lord's 
are  called  in  the  Word  ^remains,'  and  are  here 
especially  the  knowledges  of  faith  which  man  has 
acquired  from  infancy,  which  are  stored  up  and  are 
not  manifest  before  he  comes  into  this  state.  This 
state  seldom  exists  at  the  present  day  without 
temptation,  misfortune  or  grief,  which  cause  the 
things  of  the  body  and  the  world,  or  his  own,  to 


174     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

become  quiet  and,  as  it  were,  to  die.  Then  the 
things  of  the  external  man  are  separated  from  those 
of  the  internal;  in  the  internal  are  the  remains 
stored  up  by  the  Lord  for  this  time  and  this  use. 

The  Third  state  is  that  of  repentance,  in  which 
from  the  internal  man  he  speaks  piously  and  de- 
voutly, and  brings  forth  good  things,  as  the  works 
of  charity,  but  which  are  nevertheless  inanimate 
because  he  regards  them  as  from  himself.  These 
are  called  the  tender  grass,  then  the  herb  yielding 
seed,  and  afterwards  the  tree  yielding  fruit. 

The  Fourth  state  is  when  he  is  affected  by  love 
and  illumined  by  faith;  he  before  indeed  spoke 
pious  things  and  brought  forth  good  things,  but 
from  a  state  of  temptation  and  distress,  not  from 
faith  and  charity.  These,  therefore,  love  and  faith, 
are  now  enkindled  in  the  internal  man  and  are  called 
the  two  great  lights. 

The  Fifth  state  is  that  he  speaks  from  faith  and 
thereby  confirms  himself  in  truth  and  good;  the 
things  which  he  then  brings  forth  are  animate,  and 
are  called  fishes  of  the  sea  and  birds  of  the  heavens. 

The  Sixth  state  is,  when  from  faith  and  thence 
from  love  he  speaks  true  things  and  does  good 
things,  the  things  he  then  brings  forth  are  called 
the  living  soul  and  creature.  And  because  he  then 
begins  to  act  from  love  as  well  as  from  faith  he 
becomes  a  spiritual  man  which  is  called  an  image  of 
God.  His  spiritual  life  is  delighted  and  sustained 
by  the  things  that  are  of  the  knowledges  of  faith 
and  of  the  works  of  charity,  which  are  called  his 
food ;  and  his  natural  life  is  delighted  and  sustained 
by  the  things  that  are  of  the  body  and  the  senses; 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     175 

from  which  there  is  a  combat  until  love  reigns  and 
he  becomes  a  celestial  man. 

They  who  are  regenerated  do  not  all  arrive  at 
this  state,  but  some,  and  the  greatest  part  at  this 
day,  only  to  the  first ;  some  only  to  the  second ;  some 
to  the  third;  the  fourth,  and  the  fifth;  few  to  the 
sixth,  and  scarcely  any  to  the  seventh. 

The  Seventh  state  signifies  a  condition  of  com- 
plete regeneration." 

From  the  above  outline  our  readers  can  gather 
at  least  a  faint  idea  of  how  completely  Swedenborg 
does  away  with  all  simply  external  interpretations 
of  the  Pentateuch,  and  when  he  proceeds  to  deal 
with  the  Book  of  Revelations  he  finds  no  difficulty 
in  explaining  the  many  elaborate  hieroglyphics  with 
which  the  mysterious  Apocalypse  abounds. 

It  is  indeed  to  his  "Apocalypse  Unveiled"  that 
we  must  turn  for  anything  like  an  adequate  view 
of  his  special  doctrine  concerning  the  Church  of 
the  New  Jerusalem,  which  he  regards  as  a  new 
dispensation  of  truth,  in  the  advantages  of  which 
the  world  is  now  measurably  sharing,  though  the 
full  glory  of  the  new  age  has  not  yet  burst  upon  us. 
This  most  wonderful  of  all  his  writings  was  never 
completed  or  published  by  the  author,  although  care- 
fully prepared  for  the  printer  as  far  as  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  chapter.  The  general  plan  of  the 
work  closely  resembles  that  of  the  "Arcana  Coe- 
lestia";  the  full  text  of  each  chapter  is  given,  then 
elaborate  expositions  of  single  verses  follow;  some 
of  which  are  treated  at  great  length,  others  briefly. 

According  to  Swedenborg  a  new  age  of  the  world 
began  in  1757,  and  it  was  after  that  year  that  he 


176     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

undertook  to  minutely  explain  the  Apocalypse, 
which  he  declares  (particularly  in  its  closing  chap- 
ters) symbolically  describes  the  ideal  condition  of 
humanity  yet  to  be  realized. 

John  the  Revelator  is  said  to  represent  those  who 
are  in  the  good  of  life  from  faith  in  the  Lord  who 
remain  steadfast  through  the  desolation  of  the 
church,  and  who  are  the  first  to  become  aware  of 
their  Lord's  coming,  which  being  "in  clouds,"  and 
in  the  midst  of  "seven  golden  candlesticks,"  repre- 
sents a  manifestation  of  light  in  the  midst  of 
obscurity  in  the  letter  of  the  Word.  The  seven 
churches  are  the  members  of  the  Christian  Church 
in  seven  distinct  conditions.  What  was  seen 
through  the  door  in  heaven  (Chap.  4)  was  the 
ordering  of  all  things  in  preparation  for  judgment. 
Those  who  sit  on  dififerent-colored  horses  mean 
those  who  variously  understand  the  significance  of 
the  Word.  Souls  under  the  altar  are  those  who  have 
lived  a  good  life  reverencing  the  Lord,  and  though 
oppressed  by  rulers  of  the  external  church,  have 
been  preserved  by  divine  care.  The  rolling  away 
of  heaven  as  a  scroll  represents  the  dissolution  of 
that  fictitious  heaven  which  pretended  Christians 
form  for  themselves  as  soon  as  their  inner  condi- 
tion is  disclosed  by  the  light  of  the  Lord's  coming. 
The  mystical  144,000  are  they  of  the  true  church 
of  every  kind  who  are  sanctified  within.  The 
"woes"  follow  the  exploration  of  the  states  of  those 
who  rely  on  faith  without  charity.  The  woman 
clothed  with  the  sun  (Chap.  12)  signifies  the  new 
church  that  is  to  come;  the  man  child  whom  she 
brings  forth  is  the  strong  doctrine  of  that  church 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     177 

which  is  opposed  frantically  by  the  dragon  which 
represents  the  false  doctrine  of  faith  alone.  The 
ruling  of  the  nations  with  a  rod  of  iron  by  the  man 
child  represents  the  power  of  the  new  doctrine 
which  will  be  illustrated  both  from  the  letter  of  the 
Word  and  by  rational  argument  from  the  facts  of 
nature.  War  in  heaven  results  in  the  overthrow 
of  those  fictitious  states  which  outwardly  appear  as 
heavens  until  their  inner  lack  of  true  afifection  is 
discerned.  The  golden  vials  full  of  divine  anger 
signify  the  holy  good  and  truth  of  heaven  flowing 
in  and  making  evil  secreted  in  the  church  manifest, 
that  it  may  be  vanquished.  Babylon  described  as  a 
"harlot,"  reveals  the  state  of  those  who  misuse  their 
position  in  the  church  for  ends  of  self -aggrandise- 
ment. The  "Beast"  is  the  letter  of  the  Word  in  the 
hands  of  those  who  pervert  it  to  base  ends.  The 
coming  church,  confirmed  in  genuine  truth,  is  de- 
scribed as  the  bride  of  the  Lamb,  clad  in  fine  linen; 
the  doctrine  of  this  church  is  described  as  a  Holy 
City  descending  from  God  out'  of  heaven  into  which 
there  shall  not  enter  anything  false  or  defiling.  The 
foregoing  are  but  a  few  out  of  multitudinous 
explanations  of  striking  metaphors  with  which 
this  marvellous  book  abounds,  but  though  few 
they  suffice  to  afford  some  clear  insight  into  Swed- 
enborg's  general  line  of  interpretation.  In  addition 
to  all  this  remarkable  expository  comment  Sweden- 
borg  has  given  us  an  immense  number  of  personal 
experiences  of  a  superphysical  character  not  only  in 
his  "Diary"  but  scattered  through  almost  all  his 
works.  To  any  unprejudiced  reader  many  of  these 
narrations  may   serve  the  double  purpose  of  ac- 


178    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

quainting  us  not  only  with  Swedenborg's  spiritual 
experiences  but  also  with  his  own  mental  bias,  which 
was  particularly  strong  in  certain  definite  directions. 
Being  educated  as  a  Lutheran  he  seems  to  have 
inherited  a  certain  affection  for  some  forms  of 
Protestant  Christianity  and  a  very  decided  dislike 
for  Roman  Catholicism,  and  this,  as  Emerson  has 
pointed  out,  together  with  many  similar  incidents, 
serves  to  foster  the  opinion,  entertained  very  widely, 
that  however  true  a  seer  he  may  have  been  his 
revelations  were  all  more  or  less  colored  by  the 
mental  medium  through  which  they  flowed;  they 
are  therefore  no  more  to  be  regarded  as  infallible 
than  those  of  other  seers.  But  this  rational  posi- 
tion is  so  distasteful  to  extreme  Swedenborgians 
that  they  appear  resentful  when  this  great  man, 
whom  they  so  very  highly  extol,  is  placed  upon 
something  like  the  same  level  with  other  great 
philosophers  who  have  also  enjoyed  spiritual  revel- 
ations. The  remark  of  the  apostle  Paul,  "We  have 
this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels,"  is  universally 
applicable  to  all  human  experience,  and  it  is  just  at 
this  point  that  simple  Theism  proves  its  unconquer- 
able superiority  to  all  sectarian  systems,  adherents 
to  which  invariably  claim  far  too  much  for  some 
one  leader  whom  they  extravagantly  exalt,  and 
often  far  too  little  for  other  noble  teachers  with 
whose  positions  they  are  not  in  sympathy.  The 
foolish  statement  that  God  makes  a  perfect  revel- 
ation through  an  imperfect  medium  is  a  fantastic 
bubble  which  bursts  as  soon  as  it  is  pricked,  for 
there  is  no  question  of  divine  but  only  of  human 
ability  at  stake;  and  if  we  are  in  this  world  under- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     179 

going  gradual  training,  and  it  is  the  divine  will  that 
we  sliould  unfold  by  a  succession  of  progressive 
experiences,  we  may  safely  conclude  that  there  is 
no  cut  and  dried  revelation  once  for  all  ready  to 
our  hand.  It  is  undoubtedly  far  best  for  us  to  be 
situated  exactly  as  we  are,  without  such  a  revelation, 
but  with  every  inducement  and  ever-increasing 
opportunity  to  arrive  at  more  and  more  knowledge 
of  truth  for  ourselves  by  faithfully  and  continually 
exercising  those  very  faculties  with  which  we  are 
clearly  endowed  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  us  to 
find  out  truth  through  the  agency  of  their  exercise. 
Though  this  common-sense  position,  as  it  may  well 
be  called,  is  in  entire  agreement  with  all  our  actual 
experiences  of  human  education,  and  is  moreover 
strictly  scientific  in  all  its  tendencies  and  implica- 
tions, it  can  never  satisfy  any  who  demand  a  com- 
plete unveiling  of  the  mysteries  of  the  universe,  for 
they  set  themselves  in  an  attitude  toward  revelation 
which  renders  it  impossible  for  there  to  be  a  grad- 
ual unwinding  of  the  scroll  of  truth  to  human 
understanding,  seeing  that  if  their  position  be 
tenable,  all  truth  must  be  already  in  our  possession. 
Needless  to  argue  that  no  really  illumined  teacher 
at  any  time  anywhere  ever  took  so  insane  a  position, 
which  is  one,  moreover,  that  no  professedly  Ortho- 
dox or  Catholic  theologian  will  attempt  to  maintain 
if  engaged  in  controversy  with  an  intellectual 
opponent. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  so  few  admirers 
of  any  gr^at  teacher  seem  willing  to  place  him 
among  the  world's  enlighteners,  simply  as  one  of 
them,  instead  of  exalting  their  chosen  hero  to  a 


i8o     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

rank  enirely  beyond  that  of  all  the  rest.  This 
attitude  toward  Swedenborg,  on  the  part  of  his 
devotees,  has  led  many  to  turn  away  entirely  from 
his  revelations  because  they  could  not  accept  them 
as  infallible,  though  they  doubtless  contain  much 
ennobling  philosophy,  and  can  well  be  studied  as 
helpful  textbooks  by  all  vvho  are  seeking  to  acquaint 
themselves  with  the  history  of  modern  seership. 
Though,  for  ourselves,  we  totally  deny  everlasting 
continuance  in  hells,  which  most  Swedenborgians 
believe  is  a  necessary  inference  from  their  leader's 
disclosures  concerning  the  spiritual  world,  we  can 
entirely  agree  with  Swedenborg's  doctrine  of  dom- 
inant affection  regulating  our  condition  in  the  here- 
after. Clairvoyance  may  be  perfect,  to  the  extent 
of  clearly  revealing  post-mortem  conditions  as  they 
now  exist,  without  tlirowing  any  light  whatever  on 
how  radically  those  conditions  may  have  changed 
before  another  century  has  rolled  away.  We  have 
not  the  slightest  warrant  for  supposing  that  any 
soul  will  choose  evil  everlastingly,  though  we  can 
comprehend  the  idea  that  if  one  did  actually  desire 
to  spend  eternity  in  a  hell,  the  privilege  would  be 
accorded  him  of  gratifying  his  dominant  propen- 
sity. But  how  pitiably  absurd  is  such  a  vile  con- 
jecture in  the  light  of  Swedenborg's  primary  teach- 
ing regarding  human  origin,  for  he  attributes  all 
life  to  a  sole  Divine  Being,  whose  life  animates  the 
entire  creation.  Swedenborg  accounts  for  evil  by 
styling  it  an  inversion  of  good,  but  why  an  inversion 
should  continue  forever  can  never  be  explained 
reasonably.     There  is  no  diabolical   fount,  of  life 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     i8i 

whence  some  portion  of  the  creation  has  emanated, 
and  if  all  souls  are  alike  divinely  created  why  should 
some  choose  to  spend  eternity  in  opposition  to  their 
Creator  whom  Swedenborg  beautifully  describes  as 
perfect  Love  and  Wisdom?  In  the  hideous  and 
utterly  irrational  idea  of  even  a  greatly  modified 
unending  hell  we  see  traces  of  the  pernicious 
Lutheran  doctrine  which  Swedenborg  never  com- 
pletely left  behind,  though  he  wonderfully  improved 
and  in  every  way  greatly  modified  it.  Running  all 
through  Swedenborgian  theology  is  the  supposition, 
to  say  the  least,  that  some  human  souls  have,  dur- 
ing the  brief  term  of  a  single  embodiment  on  earth, 
so  confirmed  themselves  in  love  of  evil, — which  of 
course  implies  hatred  of  good, — that  of  their  own 
volition  they  will  remain  forever  in  a  state  of  alien- 
ation from  all  truth  and  goodness.  In  this  infer- 
ence we  can  see  nothing  but  shortsighted  failure  to 
discern  the  true  inwardness  of  human  nature. 
Where  those  fictitious  characters  are  to  be  found  in 
real  life  who  have  no  love  of  goodness  in  them  we 
have  never  been  able  to  discover,  though  it  needs 
no  more  than  the  most  ordinary  observation  to 
discern  widely  different  degrees  of  manifest  good- 
ness, not  only  in  different  individuals,  but  also  in 
the  same  individuals  at  different  times  and  in  the 
midst  of  varying  circumstances.  We  are  often 
reminded  by  Swedenborgians  that  the  Lord  coerces 
no  one,  but  leaves  every  individual  free  to  choose  a 
destiny;  but  the  full  acceptance  of  that  proposition 
does  not  in  the  slightest  measure  sustain  the  position 
we  are  combating,  for  it  can  be  assented  to  in  its 


1 82     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

entirety  by  all  who  take  a  reasonable  view  of  human 
nature  and  be  by  them  employed  to  illustrate  the 
certainty  that  that  very  freedom  of  choice  upon 
which  Swedenborg  insists  so  strenuously  will  prove 
the  agent  through  which  the  transformation  of  all 
hells  into  heavens  will  be  ultimately  accomplished. 
Were  this  point  only  a  theological  quibble,  having 
no  immediate  bearing  upon  our  conduct  toward  our 
fellow  beings  here  and  now,  we  might  well  consign  it 
to  the  category  of  those  mysteries  which  may  be 
cleared  up  in  a  future  life,  but  not  in  the  present; 
but  nothing  can  be  more  misleading  than  to  assume 
that  an  anthropological  doctrine  can  be  void  of 
present  influence  upon  the  mutual  practical  conduct 
of  those  who  entertain  it.  The  whole  question  of 
Prison  Reform  is  affected  vitally  by  the  views  of 
human  nature  which  we  at  this  moment  entertain, 
and  it  is  not  too  much  to  condemn  as  shockingly 
immoral  a  doctrine  of  innate  and  perpetual,  therefore 
presumably  irremediable  depravity.  With  the 
breaking  down,  in  nearly  all  Christian  communities, 
of  the  fright'ful  old  views  of  hell  which  Sweden- 
borg did  so  much  to  modify,  a  wave  of  humanity 
is  now  sweeping  over  the  earth,  which  promises  ere 
long  to  completely  transfigure  all  our  penal  institu- 
tions; and  so  powerfully  is  the  good  influence  ex- 
erted by  the  "new  theology"  being  already  felt  that 
we  can  hardly  take  up  a  periodical,  or  even  a  news- 
paper, without  finding  some  account  of  good  work 
accomplished  through  the  beneficent  influence 
exerted  by  the  dissemination  and  application  of 
humane  views  of  human  nature.  The  Southern 
States  of  America  have  long  been  in  the  clutch  of 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     183 

extreme  religious  and  other  phases  of  conservatism, 
and  it  has  generally  been  considered  that  the  North 
is  far  more  open  to  accept  needed  reforms  in  thought 
and  practise  than  the  South;  but  it  is  now  happily 
true  that  the  South  is  entering  upon  a  new  era  of 
prosperity  and  awakening  to  embrace  the  same  noble 
philanthropic  spirit  which  is  now  making  rapid 
headway  in  the  North  and  in  the  West.  As  recently 
as  March  29,  1910,  a  representative  Southern  news- 
paper, *' Virginian  Pilot,"  Norfolk,  Virginia,  con- 
tained the  following  beautiful  account  of  an  address 
delivered  in  that  city  by  Judge  Benjamin  Lindsey, 
of  Denver,  Colorado.  Our  special  object  in  insert- 
ing the  report  in  this  volume  is  to  show  exactly  how 
human  nature  actually  responds  in  this  world  to 
the  right  sort  of  treatment,  and  it  is  this  same 
human  nature  with  which  we  have  to  deal  when  we 
are  contemplating  the  future  state  of  our  humanity. 
As  we  read  this  noble  record  of  the  gracious  help- 
ful work  of  a  truly  brave  and  strong,  as  well  as 
intensely  kindly  man,  let  us  keep  steadily  before  us 
the  fact  that  Judge  Lindsey  is  dealing  with  that 
element  in  society  which  is  designated  "incorrigible" 
in  many  instances  by  people  who  can  see  no  latent 
love  of  virtue  below  the  mass  of  debris  behind 
which  it  is  often  deeply  hid.  When  theologians  as 
a  whole  believe  that  the  law  which  regulates  the 
universe  is  at  least  as  good  and  wise  as  its  manifes- 
tations in  the  persons  of  many  living  philanthro- 
pists, though  they  may  still  have  much  more  to  learn, 
they  will  cease  speculating  upon  the  fate  of  the 
"finally  impenitent." 


184    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 


BOYS    CHAMPION  IS  ENTHUSIASTICALLY  WELCOMED. 

Judge  Ben.  B.  Lindsey,  of  the  Juvenile  Court 
of  Denver,  Colo.,  one  of  the  most  noted  workers  in 
the  interest  of  juvenile  court  work  in  the  United 
States,  and  the  author  of  the  sensational  political 
story,  "The  Beast  in  the  Jungle,"  which  has  been 
running  in  Everybody's  Magazine  for  the  past  six 
months,  lectured  to  a  large  audience  at  the  Academy 
of  Music  last  night  on  ''Juvenile  Court  Work." 
The  lecture  was  given  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Co-operative  Clubs  of  Norfolk  and  Portsmouth  and 
directly  under  the  auspices  of  the  Norfolk  section, 
Council  of  Jewish  Women. 

After  his  lecture,  which  was  received  with  great 
warmth.  Judge  Lindsey  was  besieged  by  the  repre- 
sentatives of  a  half  dozen  clubs  and  organizations 
of  the  city  and  promised  to  make  his  appearance 
before  four  of  them. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  the  ''kids"  of  Denver  took 
Judge  Lindsey  into  their  confidence  and  told  him 
their  troubles  when  no  other  judge  had  ever  been  able 
to  get  a  word  either  as  evidence  or  confidence.  Judge 
Lindsey  is  a  man  who  has  a  personality  which  attracts 
youngsters  and  inspires  confidence.  He  has  an  hon- 
est, appealing  sort  of  a  face  with  not  a  hard  expres- 
sion in  it,  but  always  a  laugh  about  his  eyes  when 
the  rest  of  his  countenance  seems  serious. 

He  carried  his  audience  away  with  him  last  night 
on  many  little  trips  into  boys'  hearts  and  boys'  lives. 
He  told  about  things  which  have  happened  to 
about  every  man  who  listened  to  him  last  night,  but 
most  of   them  had   forgotten  and   were   delighted 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     iSg 

when  their  memories  were  refreshed.  He  brought 
out  the  fact  that  interest  is  everything  in  a  child's 
life  and  that  the  child  is  changing  the  whole  scheme 
of  things.  What  is  most  needed,  he  said,  is  a  little 
love  in  the  law  and  less  of  that  inconsiderate  harsh- 
ness which  classes  the  mischievous  boy  with  the 
criminal  man.  Fewer  jails  and  more  schools;  more 
education,  more  tolerance,  more  patience  and  more 
sympathy,  and  less  browbeating,  is  Judge  Lindsey's 
prescription  for  saving  boys'  futures.  He  believes 
that  there  is  some  good  in  every  boy  and  that  the 
good  dominates  the  bad. 

"We  are  dealing  with  human  hearts  and  souls  and 
qualities,"  said  Judge  Lindsey.  "We  ought  to  deal 
with  a  lad  as  a  child  is  dealt  with,  and  not  a 
criminal.  Give  boys  what  they  need — sympathy, 
assistance,  encouragement  and  co-operation,  and 
see  what  you  get  in  return. 

"Fathers  and  mothers  in  the  home  if  they  are  wise 
will  get  the  truth  from  the  child  taken  in  delin- 
quency, for  if  a  child  gets  by  with  a  lie,  in  many 
cases,  it  is  lost.  Take  them  when  they  are  young  and 
mould  their  character  while  it  is  plastic  and  you 
make  for  better  men  and  better  citizenship." 

Judge  Lindsey  divided  the  study  of  juvenile 
court  work  into  three  classes,  each  of  which,  he  said, 
was  closely  allied  with  the  other.  He  cited  the 
physiologiciiJ,  the  sociolgoical  and  the  psychology 
of  the  boy's  nature,  each  of  which  must  be  ap- 
proached from  an  entirely  different  standpoint,  but 
which  are  very  closely  linked  together.  Because  of 
a  total  ignorance  of  these  qualities,  or  perhaps  be- 
cause of  an  utter  disregard  for  them,  Judge  Lindsey 


1 86     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

declared,  100,000  children  go  to  the  courts  of  the 
country  every  year,  which  in  a  generation  makes 
more  than  2,000,000  "kids,"  as  he  referred  to  them, 
who  are  up  against  hard  propositions  which  they 
don't  understand.  These  conditions  are  attributable 
to  careless  parents,  political  corruption,  and  the 
grinding  of  the  mills  of  the  wealthy,  which  he  de- 
clared crushed  hundreds  of  lives  which  might  have 
become  a  valuable  asset  to  the  nation." 

Once  let  the  members  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
Church  follow  their  gifted  leader  further  than  the 
actual  words  of  his  writings,  now  long  stereotyped, 
may  be  able  to  carry  them  and  they  will  see  that  the 
greatest  honor  we  can  pay  to  a  spiritual  pioneer  is 
not  to  cling  slavishly  to  the  letter  of  the  record  he 
has  left  behind  him  but  to  go  steadily  forward  along 
the  line  suggested  by  the  obvious  trend  of  his 
philosophy.  If  there  be  any  spiritual  revelation  it 
must  be  progressive,  and  instead  of  stupidly  claim- 
ing, as  many  shortsighted  people  do,  that  you  must 
take  a  revelation  in  its  entirety  or  else  utterly  reject 
it,  we  claim  that  all  revelations,  no  matter  of  what 
nature,  must  be  fearlessly  and  dispassionately 
examined  in  accordance  with  the  wise  injunction, 
"Prove  all  things;  hold  fast  that  which  is  good." 
The  scientific  spirit  needs  to  prevail  in  religious  as 
well  as  in  all  other  circles.  Nothing  is  too  sacred 
for  examination ;  no  revelation  can  be  final  and  none 
can  be  complete,  because  our  capacities  for  accept- 
ance and  for  comprehension  are  continually  on  the 
increase. 

During  the  Darwin   Celebration  at   Cambridge, 
England,  held  in  June,  1909,  many  learned  men  who 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     187 

expressed  the  sincerest  admiration  and  esteem  for 
the  hero  of  the  occasion  did  not  hesitate  to  call  at- 
tention to  his  limitations  while  extolling  his  nobility 
of  character  and  paying  high  tribute  to  the  enormous 
value  of  his  work.  If  some  similar  attitude  were 
taken,  by  his  admirers,  toward  Swedenborg,  much 
good  would  undoubtedly  be  accomplished,  and  we 
should  soon  be  able  to  assign  to  the  gifted  seer  and 
sage  of  Scandinavia  the  place  which  rightfully  be- 
longs to  him  in  his  three-fold  capacity  of  Scientist, 
Philosopher  and  Theologian.  All  who  wish  to  esti- 
mate Swedenborg  fairly,  and  to  profit  as  much  as 
possible  from  his  immense  literary  output,  should  not 
confine  themselves  to  his  theological,  but  should 
make  a  study  of  his  earlier  scientific  and  philosophi- 
cal writings  also,  for  in  these  we  can  trace  the 
gradual  growth  of  his  perceptions  and  watch,  with 
much  interest  and  profit,  ho\y  he  applies  the  univer- 
sal law  of  correspondences  to  the  entire  field  of 
nature,  which  he  most  industriously  examined. 
Swedenborg's  entire  w^ork  will  be  far  better  compre- 
hended, and  his  mission  far  more  clearly  under- 
stood, when  some  review  of  it  in  its  entirety  is  un- 
dertaken by  impartial  and  unprejudiced  examiners. 
But  these  are  usually  difficult  to  find,  because  bias 
does  exist,  either  for  or  against,  to  a  large  extent, 
even  in  the  minds  of  men  as  widely  comprehensive 
as  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  whose  essay  on  Sweden- 
borg is,  to  an  extent,  marred  by  his  evident  disrelish 
for  any  attempt  to  map  out  even  a  small  portion  of 
the  unseen  universe.  Emerson's  distinctive  bias  led 
him  to  eulogize  Plato,  almost  extravagantly,  while 
his  review  of  Swedenborg  suffered  from  the  same 


1 88     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

cause.  Many  of  Emerson's  criticisms  of  Sweden- 
borg's  ''heavens"  are  very  just,  but  there  is  more 
to  be  said  in  favor  of  their  naturalness  than  a  man 
of  Emerson's  temperament  would  be  likely  to  dis- 
cover. It  is  quite  true  that,  when  describing  do- 
mestic life  in  the  spiritual  world,  Swedenborg's 
married  angels  do  appear  something  like  ''country 
parsons  and  their  wives,"  though  on  rather  a  glori- 
fied scale;  but  it  is  quite  conceivable  that  Sweden- 
borg  was  really  intromited  into  just  such  a  state  in 
the  spiritual  universe,  his  clairvoyance  enabling  him 
to  see  exactly  what  he  described  and  was  in  full 
sympathy  with;  and  just  because  his  ideals  and  as- 
pirations concerning  the  hereafter  were  not  quite 
the  same  as  Emerson's,  his  own  selected  heaven 
would  not  be  the  same  as  that  chosen  by  one  whose 
tastes  and  feelings  were  in  many  respects  unlike  his 
own.  By  carrying  out  the  dominant  Swedenborgian 
theory  of  will  and  choice  as  ruling  factors  regulat- 
ing our  condition  in  the  heavens,  we  can  dispose  of 
many  difficulties  which  appear  at  first  insuperable, 
and  it  must  be  with  Swedenborg  himself  for  guide 
that  his  own  philosophy  will  yet  be  much  more  fully 
elucidated.  Here  we  may  rest  our  argument,  at 
least  for  the  immediate  present.  We  all  make  our 
own  spiritual  conditions  here  and  hereafter,  and 
the  same  law  works  uniformly  in  all  worlds  and 
through  all  ages.  In  accordance  with  the  strictest 
implications  of  this  rational  and  orderly  proposition, 
we  can  logically  proceed  to  construct  a  sound,  sane, 
and  ever-widening  philosophy. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  BOOK  OF  EXODUS ITS  PRACTICAL  AND  ESOTERIC 

TEACHING. 

When  rapidly  running  through  some  of  the  con- 
tents of  Genesis,  we  dwelt  particularly  upon  those 
wonderful  Type  Men,  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob 
(transformed  into  Israel),  and  then  Joseph, — a 
character  of  such  rare  beauty  and  comprehensive  ex- 
cellence that  words  fail  utterly  to  do  full  justice  to 
the  magnificent  ideal  thus  set  before  us.  Turning 
now  to  Exodus,  we  find  one  majestic  solitary  figure 
towering  in  sublime  moral  magnificence  far  above 
all  the  rest,  even  Moses,  the  unrivaled  prophet  who 
to  this  day  remains  the  grandest  law-enforcer  of 
whom  we  have  any  distinct  record.  In  Genesis  we 
are  made  acquainted  with  Egypt  in  the  days  of  its 
ancient  splendor,  when  the  Pharaohs  (Native 
Rulers)  were  just  and  honorable  men  and  extended 
to  Joseph,  the  representative  Israelite,  not  only  a 
cordial  welcome  but  also  assigned  him  the  exalted 
station  to  which  his  extraordinary  capabilities  en- 
tirely entitled  him.  Then  were  the  happy  days 
when  Egyptian  and  Israelite  dwelt  side*  by  side  in 
harmony,  wisely  co-operating  for  the  general  good. 
In  those  remote  days  it  appears  that  Egypt  had  well- 
nigh  perfectly  solved  some  of  those  intricate  indus- 

189 


190     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

trial  problems  which  are  greatly  vexing  the  world 
to-day.  The  Hebrews  were  originally  a  pastoral 
and  agricultural  people,  while  the  Egyptians  were 
given  to  arts  and  crafts;  they  were  also  navigators 
and  chemists  of  a  high  degree  of  proficiency. 
Racial  differences  have  always  existed,  and  it  is 
perfectly  right  that  w^e  should  recognize  them  still, 
but  difference  rightly  understood  never  implies  dis- 
cord; on  the  contrary,  it  constitutes  the  only  basis 
for  exquisite  harmony.  There  could  be  unison  but 
not  harmony  in  song  if  all  voices  were  of  the  same 
pitch  and  all  singers  sounded  the  same  note;  so  is 
it  with  the  great  human  chorus  composed  of  the 
various  races  of  humanity;  they  are  properly  dis- 
tinct, but  they  never  ought  to  appear  discordant. 

The  Book  of  Exodus  introduces  us  to  a  very 
different  state  of  affairs,  when  it  informs  us  that 
"another  king  arose  who  knew  not  Joseph" ;  a  brief, 
comprehensive  sentence  containing  in  germ  the  en- 
tire history  of  the  fatal  progress  of  Egyptian  de- 
generacy, resulting  finally  in  that  abject  decadence 
which  brought  about  the  complete  overthrow  of  the 
Pharoic  dynasty,  tragically  described  in  the  graphic 
account  of  the  destruction  of  the  Egyptian  host  in 
the  Red  Sea,  while  those  who  had  been  cruelly  en- 
slaved and  maltreated  by  Egypt's  degenerate  rulers 
were  making  their  escape  from  bondage  and  taking 
their  first  vigorous  steps  on  the  road  to  complete 
enfranchisement.  It  is  in  the  midst  of  a  degraded 
Egypt  that  the  sublime  figure  of  Moses  rises  into 
a  position  of  conspicuous  leadership.  We  know 
quite  well  that  the  character  of  Moses  is  far  from 
perfect,  but  perfect  characters  are  never  discover- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     191 

able  among  us ;  we  all,  even  the  greatest  of  us,  have 
certain  very  definite  moral  and  mental  limitations, 
and  were  we  to  refuse  to  accord  honor  to  a  great 
leader  because  he  exhibited  some  failings  and  frail- 
ties, we  should  be  compelled  to  entirely  abandon  all 
that  useful,  because  temperate  and  sagacious,  hero- 
worship  which,  when  kept  within  reasonable  limits, 
is  unquestionably  a  highly  elevating  factor  in  human 
development.  The  beautiful  Bible  story  of  Moses 
is  full  of  picturesque  detail,  commencing  with  the 
Ark  of  Bulrushes  in  which  he  is  found  when  an 
infant  by  an  Egyptian  princess,  who  takes  the 
little  Hebrew  boy  into  her  kindly  charge  and  se- 
cures for  him  all  the  advantages  which  the  highest 
culture  of  the  day  could  afford.  The  Hebrew  name 
Moshe  means  literally  drawn  up  out  of  the  water, 
and  has  no  exclusive  reference  to  the  mere  incident 
of  a  literal  rescue  from  physical  drowning  at  a  time 
when  the  curse  of  anti-Semitism  had  invaded  Egypt, 
to  such  an  extent  that  drastic  measures  were  em- 
ployed for  killing  off  in  infancy  multitudes  of  male 
Hebrews.  The  spiritual  significance  of  the  name 
Moshe  denotes  one  whose  consciousness  has  become 
elevated  to  a  higher  than  the  simply  intellectual 
level;  water  signifying  intellect  esoterically.  The 
life  of  Moses,  which  extended  to  120  years,  is  di- 
vided into  three  periods  of  forty  years  each.  The 
First  Period  is  devoted  to  education ;  the  Second  to 
civil  employment;  the  Third  to  seership.  We  are 
told  in  Exodus  that  Moses  was  fully  eighty  years 
of  age  when  he  turned  aside  at  Horeb  to  behold 
that  great  sight,  the  bush  burning  with  fire  which, 
however,     remained    unconsumed.     Though    very 


192     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

beautiful  poetic  allusions  have  been  made  -to  this 
bush,  as  though  it  were  a  vegetable,  by  John  Green- 
leaf  Whittier,  Theodore  Parker,  and  other  excel- 
lent modern  writers,  and  their  references  are  thor- 
oughly well  justified,  we  know  that  the  original 
meaning  of  the  bush  is  human  nature  itself.  Moses 
was  a  veritable  prince  among  anthropologists,  and 
because  of  his  intimate  and  profound  acquaintance 
with  human  nature  essentially,  it  is  truly  said  that 
he  beheld  the  Divine  Similitude.  In  the  thirteen 
articles  of  Jewish  faith,  compiled  in  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury of  the  present  era  by  Moses  Maimonides,  we 
find  the  following  saying:  ''There  hath  never  risen 
yet  in  Israel  a  prophet  like  unto  Moses;  one  who 
hath  beheld  his  similitude."  Taking  these  words 
in  connection  with  the  sublime  sentences  which  pre- 
cede and  follow  them,  we  are  fully  justified  in  con- 
necting this  statement  with  the  declaration  in  the 
first  chapter  of  Genesis  that  humanity  is  created  in 
the  Divine  likeness,  therefore  those  truly  great 
prophets  who  have  revealed  Divine  Law  to  humanity 
with  special  fulness  and  clearness,  are  simply  those 
who  have  attained  to  a  higher  degree  of  spiritual 
development  than  the  majority.  Reverence  for  great 
men  may  be  carried  to  an  extreme,  but  there  is 
surely  no  just  reason  for  denying  the  self-evident 
fact  that  once  in  a  while  some  especially  illumined 
teacher  does  appear  among  us,  never,  properly,  as 
an  object  of  worship,  but  as  a  true  and  faithful 
guide  to  some  fuller  comprehension  of  the  one  liv- 
ing and  true  God  whom  all  the  prophets  in  Israel 
have  most  emphatically  declared  to  be  the  only 
proper  object  of  human  adoration.     Let    "higher 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     193 

criticism"  dispute  over  historical  occurrences  as  it 
may,  the  sublimity  of  the  moral  law  contained  in 
the  Book  of  Exodus  can  never  suffer  in  the  slightest 
degree  by  reason  of  anyone's  alleged  ignorance  of 
the  time  and  place  of  its  original  enunciation.  The 
intrinsic  value  of  the  Ten  Commandments  is  in 
no  sense  affected  by  any  surrounding  circumstances 
in  ancient  or  modern  days,  and  it  is  surely  to  the 
Mosaic  type  of  man  that  the  world  is  indebted  for 
such  clear  and  wonderful  deliverances  concerning 
courses  of  thought  as  well  as  action,  necessary  not 
only  to  the  preservation  of  human  society  but  to 
its  continual  elevation  to  ever  higher  and  higher 
levels  of  attainment.  Were  the  other  nine  com- 
mandments to  be  treated  only  as  pertaining  to  out- 
ward conduct,  the  Tenth  would  alwavs  remain  so 
thoroughly  related  to  our  most  interior  life  of 
thought  and  feeling  that  its  pure  spirituality  would 
ever  constitute  it  a  beacon  light  for  human  guid- 
ance, until  the  blessed  time  arrives  when  no  com- 
mandments will  be  longer  necessary,  because  a  per- 
fect love  for  goodness  and  truth  will  be  so  fullj 
developed  within  us  that  we  shall  no  longer  need 
any  external  prohibition  or  exhortation.  Moses  may 
well  be  regarded  as  a  truly  great  Adept  and  Initiate 
into  those  universal  Mysteries  which  Theosophists 
and  many  others  are  now  endeavoring  to  unveil  and 
practically  apply  to  existing  human  necessities.  A 
people  in  bondage  like  Israel  in  Egypt  may  well  be 
looked  upon  as  representing  a  stage  in  human  evolu- 
tion prior  to  the  awakening  of  spiritual  conscious- 
ness. The  Bible  seems  to  tell. us  that  people  are 
very  comfortable  in  servitude  until  a  new  love  of 


194     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

liberty  awakens  within  them;  then  they  become 
restless  and  restive,  and  in  the  endeavor  to  shake 
off  their  bonds  they  always  encounter  trial  from 
within  and  persecution  from  without.  Such  has 
ever  been  the  history  alike  of  individuals  and  of 
nations ;  thus  the  story  of  Exodus  applies  not  only 
to  deliverance  from  physical  slavery,  but,  in  a  much 
higher  sense,  to  spiritual  emancipation.  Whenever 
a  great  crisis  is  reached  in  the  progress  of  a  nation, 
some  great  deliverer  arises  wonderfully  equipped 
to  lead  a  multitude  which  could  not  lead  itself;  like- 
wise whenever  an  individual  reaches  a  similar  crisis 
in  interior  development,  some  hitherto  unknown  in- 
tuition causes,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  discontent 
with  prevailing  modes  of  life  and  a  more  or  less 
distinct  vision  of  some  higher  state  attainable.  We 
observe  that  Moses  is  the  younger  and  Aaron  the 
elder  brother,  but  the  Divine  voice  speaks  to  Moses 
and  through  Moses  to  Aaron,  then  through  Aaron 
to  the  multitude.  This  statement  agrees  exactly 
with  the  pre-eminence  of  the  younger  Jacob  over 
the  elder  Esau,  and  gives  significance  to  a  famous 
modern  phrase,  "That  which  is  latest  born  is  highest 
born."  Here  we  can  readily  trace  the  complete 
foundation  of  the  universal  truth  of  involution  and 
evolution,  for  no  matter  in  what  direction  we  turn 
for  example  and  illustration,  we  find  it  invariablv 
stated,  in  the  most  widely  divergent  treatises,  that 
the  lowest  forms  of  existence  appear  earliest  and  the 
highest  class  come  last  of  all.  We  talk  very  curi- 
ously about  "olden  times"  when  we  mean  earlier 
days ;  but  just  as  we  grow  older  from  year  to  year, 
so  must  time  grow  older ;  this  year  is  therefore  the 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     195 

oldest  year  the  earth  has  known,  and  as  human  be- 
ings are  justly  supposed  to  have  been  gathering  ex- 
perience through  all  the  years  which  have  passed, 
and  to  be  therefore  far  maturer  in  judgment  at 
seventy  than  at  seventeen,  so  as  the  earth  advances 
we  have  the  right  to  expect  that  knowledge  will 
continually  increase,  therefore  the  newest  genera- 
tion and  the  youngest  individuals  may  be  in  very 
truth  the  oldest.  Moses  represents  the  intuitive  man 
who  sees  everything  through  spiritual  perception; 
he  is  therefore  purely  a  prophet,  while  his  elder  bro- 
ther Aaron  has  only  that  intellectual  understanding 
which  enables  him  to  deal  with  those  external  mat- 
ters which  always  pertain  to  the  priestly  office.  As 
we  follow  the  Book  of  Exodus  from  stage  to  stage, 
we  find  how  naturally  the  author  tells  us  that  there 
comes  a  time  when  Aaron  can  be  made  to  yield  to 
the  idolatrous  wishes  of  the  people  while  Moses  is 
absent,  but  Moses  remains  relentless  in  his  refusal 
to  yield  to  any  popular  demand  which  his  convic- 
tion cannot  sanction.  This  has  always  been  the 
great  historical  difference  between  prophet  and 
priest,  and  it  certainly  exists  manifestly  at  the  pres- 
ent day.  It  is  the  superb  courage,  the  dauntless 
moral  bravery  of  Moses,  which  singles  him  out  as 
a  type  of  very  inuch  that  is  abidingly  noblest  in 
our  common  human  nature,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to 
claim  that  every  true  leader  of  a  multitude  must 
possess  and  exhibit,  in  unusually  large  degree,  those 
prophetic  qualities  which  cause  their  possessor  to 
brave  every  possible  danger  and  difficulty  for  the 
purpose  of  arriving  at  truth  and  emancipating,  as 
far  as  possible,  enslaved  humanity.     That  very  noble 


196    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

and  intensely  conscientious  political  economist, 
Henry  George,  whose  writings  deserve  the  deepest 
study,  gave  many  a  truly  inspiring  lecture  on  Moses, 
taking  that  heroic  ancient  prophet  as  a  type  of  what 
a  valiant  leader  in  any  age  and  anywhere  should  be. 
There  must  be  no  temporizing,  no  pandering  to  in- 
justice, no  seeking  to  curry  favor  with  unrighteous 
monopolies  for  selfish  ends,  or  through  timidity,  but 
firm,  uncompromisiiig  adhesion  to  one's  uttermost 
convictions  of  right,  no  matter  at  what  cost  to  one's 
self  or  whether  the  very  people  in  whose  interest 
one  is  specially  working  recognize  the  good  inten- 
tions of  the  one  who  seeks  to  deliver  them  or  not. 
Without  these  qualities  and  qualifications  there  can 
be  no  such  prophet  as  Moses  ni  the  modern,  any 
more  than  there  could  have  been  in  the  ancient  world. 

The  real  prophet  is  so  much  more  than  one  who 
simply  foretells  coming  events  that,  though  there 
may  be  some  element  of  forecasting  in  a  prophet's 
ministry,  he  is  before  all  else  a  champion  of  liberty 
and  an  exhorter  to  righteousness. 

The  curious  story  of  the  plagues  of  Egypt  offers 
food  for  thought  along  several  distinctive  lines,  one 
of  which  is  the  nature  of  magic  and  the  part  it 
played  in  ancient  Egypt  and  Israel.  Nowhere  do 
we  find  a  clearer  line  of  demarcation  drawn  between 
white  magic  and  black,  than  in  the  trial  of  strength 
between  Moses  and  Aaron  on  one  hand  and  Phar- 
aoh's court  magicians  on  the  other.  Up  to  a  certain 
point  whatever  Moses  and  Aaron  could  do,  and  did, 
the  soothsayers  readily  duplicated,  therefore  there 
could  be  no  victory  for  either  side  until  the  crucial 
test  was  made  at  the  time  when  men  and  animals 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     197 

were  alike  suffering  from  painful  and  fatal  dis- 
eases. The  power  to  heal  by  magical  means  has 
been  claimed  for  true  prophets  and  their  disciples 
in  all  lands  and  through  all  ages,  and  it  has  been 
quite  reasonably  maintained  that  no  healing  efficacy 
can  possibly  reside  in  the  black  magician's  art,  be- 
cause he  never  works  with  a  desire  to  benefit  hu- 
manity, but,  on  the  contrary,  to  unduly  exalt  him- 
self and  enslave  others.  We  are  quite  ready  to 
credit  the  statement  in  Exodus  that  while  Moses 
and  Aaron  could  and  did  perform  beneficent  works 
of  healing,  when  the  sorcerers  attempted  to  do  the 
same  they  only  succeeded  in  enlarging  the  area  of 
misery  they  were  thus  vainly  attempting  to  reduce. 
Reason  certainly  compels  us  to  decide  that  in  order 
to  accomplish  any  really  beneficent  work  in  the 
world,  no  matter  by  what  means,  we  must  have  the 
love  of  humanity  at  heart;  therefore  it  has  always 
been  justly  claimed  that  power  to  heal  resides  only 
among  holy  prophets,  never  among  those  who, 
though  genuine  wonder-workers,  producing  marvel- 
lous phenomena  through  the  performance  of  magical 
rites,  are  in  no  way  actuated  by  any  sincere  de- 
sire to  confer  blessings  on  their  neighbors. 

The  plagues  of  Egypt  were  of  a  startling  nature, 
but  they  were  not  in  themselves  edifying,  nor  could 
they  throw  any  light  on  the  divine  commission  of 
Moses.  They  were  doubtless  due,  in  large  measure, 
to  the  exercise  of  that  strange  hypnotic  power  about 
which  we  hear  so  much  at  present  and  which  al- 
ways greatly  mystifies  those  who  endeavor  to  ra- 
tionally explain  the  wonders  often  performed  in 
India  in  sight  of  European  travelers  by  Hindu  ma- 


198     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

gicians.  Turning  a  staff  into  a  snake  and  a  snake 
back  into  a  staff  may  be  altogether  an  illusory  phe- 
nomenon, the  spectators  being  temporarily  affected 
by  the  mental  power  of  the  magician,  and  it  may  also 
be,  as  many  Theosophists  distinctly  claim,  that  these 
wonder-workers  have  acquired  through  rigid  self- 
training  a  control  over  Nature-Spirits  which  can  be 
made  to  do  their  bidding.  Causing  the  waters  of 
the  Nile  to  assume  the  sembliance  of  blood,  and  also 
the  mysterious  production  of  quantities  of  locusts 
and  other  pests,  would  be  well  within  the  province 
of  any  sort  of  magician  according  to  universal  tes- 
timony regarding  magic,  but  there  would  be  nothing 
in  all  this,  to  suggest  any  divine  activity.  When  we 
come  to  the  affliction  of  the  beasts,  many  Jewish 
commentators  have  suggested  that  as  certain  ani- 
mals were  accounted  sacred  and  unduly  venerated 
in  Egypt,  the  power  exerted  by  Moses  and  Aaron 
to  subject  these  creatures  to  affliction  was  intended 
as  a  convincing  rebuke  to  prevailing  idolatry,  show- 
ing that  the  bull  and  other  idolised  animals  were 
not  able  to  protect  themselves  against  attacks  which 
might  be  made  by  men  upon  them ;  thereby  proving 
that  they  were  neither  divinities  nor  under  the 
special  protection  of  divinities.  Whatever  we  may 
think  of  that  interpretation — and  there  is  something 
to  be  said  in  favor  of  it — a  clear  moral  issue  is  at 
stake  only  when  we  reach  the  point  where  the  great 
prophets  in  Israel  relieve  the  suffering  alike  of  men 
and  animals  while  their  opponents  can  only  in- 
crease distress.  This  is  a  very  old  and  also  a  very 
new  lesson,  quite  as  much  needed  at  the  present 
moment  as  in  any  time  of  old,  for  we  are  witness- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     199 

\ng  to-day  an  almost  overwhelming  recrudescence 
of  interest  in  everything  avowedly  magical,  and  es- 
pecially in  everything  Egyptian,  so  much  so  that 
the  weirdest  and  most  fantastic  tales  have  been 
very  recently  circulated  concerning  the  dire  catas- 
trophes which  have  befallen  impertinent  persons  who 
have  behaved  rudely  to  a  painted  mummy  case,  rep- 
resenting an  Egyptian  princess,  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum. 

We  have  no  right  ever  to  positively  deny  what 
we  cannot  definitely  disprove,  either  on  ethical  or 
intellectual  grounds ;  but  we  have  a  right  to  refrain 
from  blindly  endorsing  almost  incredible  narratives, 
and  particularly  are  we  justified  in  discountenancing 
alarming  beliefs  concerning  the  powers  of  sorcery 
which,  wherever  entertained,  can  have  no  other  effect 
than  to  weaken  the  nervous  system  and  cloud  the 
mind  with  dim  forebodings  of  disaster.  The  plagues 
of  Egypt  must  have  had  a  highly  salutary  effect 
in  two  directions :  First,  they  served  to  show  ex- 
actly where  a  line  can  and  must  be  drawn  between 
beneficent  and  maleficent  wonder-working;  Second, 
they  were  instrumental  in  leading  to  the  dethrone- 
ment of  tyranny  and  the  gradual  emancipation  of 
an  enslaved  multitude. 

Turning  from  an  outer  to  an  inner  view  of  these 
strange  records,  a  mystic  commentary  thereon  will 
lead  us  to  see  in  the  Egyptians  of  the  Book  of 
Exodus  all  those,  even  at  the  present  day,  who, 
because  dwelling  in  the  night  of  ignorance  and  en- 
slaving superstition  themselves,  are  bent  on  doing 
all  they  can  to  hold  others  in  captivity. 

In  the  great  mass  of  the  Hebrews  we  may  imagine 


200    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

those  who,  though  by  no  means  as  yet  fully  enlight-. 
ened,  are  nevertheless  awakening  to  a  sense  of  their 
captivity  and  becoming  filled  with  what  we  now 
often  call  divine  discontent,  are  struggling  to  break 
their  bonds.  In  Moses  and  Aaron  (Moses  espe- 
cially) we  behold  the  picture  of  those  few  who  are 
so  thoroughly  consecrated  to  high  ideals  and  so 
completely  bent,  no  matter  at  what  hazard  to  them- 
selves, on  carrying  forward  the  glorious  work  of 
liberating  the  enslaved,  that  they  do  all  and  dare 
all  to  the  utmost  extent  of  their  ability  to  accomplish 
the  noble  end  to  which  they  feel  they  have  been 
called  by  the  divine  voice  within  them.  The  two 
great  and  serious  problems  of  moral  and  industrial 
slavery  need  solution  in  modern  Europe  and  America 
even  as  they  needed  solving  in  ancient  Egypt,  and 
we  may  well  hope  that  there  is  to  be  found  a  modern 
as  well  as  an  ancient  Horeb  and  Moses.  The  tragic 
overthrow  of  Pharaoh  and  his  host  in  the  Red  Sea, 
presents  in  glowing  imagery  the  inevitable  disaster 
which  must  finally  overtake  all  governments  and 
monopolies  which  fight  to  maintain  themselves  at 
the  expense  of  every  humane  consideration.  We 
must  not  gloat  over  the  sufTerings  of  individuals, 
who  physically  perish  in  the  days  of  some  great 
revolution  which  results  in  the  upward  progress  of 
humanity,  but  we  may  well  triumph  in  the  thought 
that  cruelty  and  injustice  invariably  play  a  losing 
game,  for,  as  Robert  Browning  beautifully  expresses 
it,  "God's  in  His  heaven;  all's  right  with  the  world." 
This  magnificent  truth  so  sublimely  uttered  and 
so  constantly  reiterated  by  all  the  world's  greatest 
prophets  and  poets,  should  prove  an  anchor  of  refuge 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     201 

in  every  time  of  trial,  no  matter  how  severe  our 
trials  may  be,  by  nerving  us  with  that  true  optimism 
which  can  alone  sustain  us  in  times  of  affliction  by 
enabling  us  to  cling  with  unflinching  faith  to  a  doc- 
trine of  the  universe  which  places  Divinity  at  its 
center  and  destroys  all  belief  in  the  altimate  triumph 
of  inequity  in  any  portion  of  it.  There  are  two  texts 
in  the  Book  of  Exodus,  equally  sublime,  but  adapted 
to  diametically  opposite  human  conditions,  which  we 
do  well  to  so  lay  to  heart  that  we  may  receh^e  in- 
spiration from  them  both  in  times  of  needed  repose 
and  in  periods  which  call  for  instant  and  vigorous 
action.  The  first  of  these  is,  ''Stand  still  and  thou 
shalt  see  the  salvation  of  God"  ;  the  second  is,  "Speak 
unto  the  children  of  Israel,  that  they  go  forward." 
To  understand  the  import  of  these  two  mighty  say- 
ings, we  must  take  well  into  account  the  circum- 
stances in  which  they  both  were  uttered.  The  first 
came  at  a  time  when,  if  the  people  had  stepped  for- 
ward, they  would  have  been  instantly  drowned,  and 
had  they  gone  backward  they  would  have  run  into 
the  swords  of  their  pursuing  enemies.  The  second 
applied  to  taking  decisive  action  at  such  a  period  as 
we  often  call  "the  psychological  moment."  One 
lesson  for  us  to  learn  is  that  sometimes  there  is 
nothing  for  us  to  do,  and  then  it  is  that  we  require 
to  summon  all  our  energy  to  do  nothing.  No  course 
to  pursue  is  more  difficult  and  no  act  is  more  heroic 
than  to  remain  quite  quiet  in  a  time  of  panic,  when 
people  all  around  us  are  frenzied  with  excite- 
ment; and  nothing  again  evinces  more  thoroughly 
developed  intuition  than  to  make  a  necessary  move 


202     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

at  exactly  the  right  moment,  and  in  exactly  the  way 
which  will  prove  most  permanently  effective. 

When  the  people  went  out  of  Egypt  they  carried 
with  them  all  that  was  worth  conveying  away  of  the 
religious  ideas  and  ceremonies  and  also  of  the  social 
usages  of  the  Egyptians.  This  is  symbolically  stated 
in  -the  statement  that  they  borrowed  jewels  of  gold 
and  silver  and  "spoiled"  the  Egyptian.  In  this  single 
sentence  we  have  a  distinct  clue  to  the  influence  of 
Egyptian  upon  Hebrew  culture,  and  we  have  also 
a  plain  intimation  that  when  the  old  Egyptian  civili- 
zation came  to  an  end  all  that  was  really  valuable 
in  it  was  carried  forward  to  other  lands  and  even- 
tually became  incorporated  in  the  institutions  of 
other  countries.  Figuratively  speaking,  again  ap- 
plying the  story  of  Exodus  to  universal  human  de- 
velopment, we  may  well  decide  that  nothing  worthy 
of  preservation  can  ever  be  really  lost,  though  it 
may  often  change  its  outward  form,  and  sometimes 
remain  to  a  large  extent  buried  (but  never  dead), 
to  come  to  active  life  again  when  some  ntw  age 
begins  to  dawn  in  human  history,  and  some  new 
race  is  evolving  to  embody  the  excellences  of  the 
past  coupled  with  new  developments  unknown  in 
ancient  epochs. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

rHE   STORY   OF   THE   PASSOVER  AND   THE   PILLAR   Oi* 
EIRE  IN   THE   WILDERNESS. 

Quite  a  number  of  different  versions  have  been 
given  of  the  special  lessons  intended  to  be  conveyed 
by  the  Plagues  of  Egypt.  We  have  already  referred 
to  their  magical  character,  and  endeavored  to  show 
that  they  present  a  very  clear  distinction  between 
white  magic  and  black — i.e.,  between  Occult  Power 
exercised  with  beneficent  intent  in  the  one  case,  and 
for  the  purpose  of  working  injury  in  the  other. 
There  is  yet  another  reason  given  for  the  Plagues 
than  that  of  showing  the  distinction  between  won- 
ders wrought  to  assist  in  procuring  liberty  for  the 
enslaved  and  similar  wonders  performed  for  the  pur- 
pose of  keeping  serfs  still  in  bondage,  a  demonstra- 
tion of  Divine  power  over  the  Egyptian  Idols  which 
the  Ten  Plagues  specifically  attacked.  Miraculous 
or  magical  power  was  believed  by  the  Egyptians  to 
be  in  the  possession  of  their  idols,  which  they  al- 
ways regarded  as  far  more  than  emblems  or  sym- 
bols;  believing  as  they  did  that  their  divinities  in 
some  mysterious  manner  communicated  with  them 
through  the  agency  of  these  images,  and  also  in  a 
very  particular  manner  through  the  various  living 
creatures  which  they  held  particularly  sacred.    Sev- 


204    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

eral  writers  have  not  hesitated  to  affirm  that  the 
Plagues  were  sent  almost  solely  for  the  purpose  of 
destroying  faith  in  the  various  Egyptian  divinities, 
a  proposition  to  which  we  can  well  assent,  provided 
we  are  convinced  that  thirty-five  centuries  ago  the 
worship  of  these  idols  was  intimately  associated 
with  the  perpetuation  of  cruel  slavery  and  many 
grossly  immoral  practices.  There  is  no  suggestion 
in  the  book  of  Exodus  that  the  magicians  of  Egypt 
were  devoid  of  power  or  that  their  performances 
were  simply  conjurors'  tricks;  but  the  very  word 
conjuror  meant  originally  one  who  could  conjure  or 
evoke  certain  imseen  influences  and  compel  them  to 
do  his  bidding. 

No  objection  need  necessarily  have  been  taken 
to  any  form  of  Nature  worship,  provided  it  had 
not  been  abused  to  the  ends  of  human  injury;  but 
directly  it  had  become  thus  perverted  there  was 
surely  an  excellent  reason  for  protesting  vigorously 
against  it,  and  working  wonders  with  the  intent  to 
demolish  it.  We  must  always  keep  steadily  before 
us  the  one  idea  that  whatever  was  done  by  Moses 
and  Aaron  had  this  sole  object  in  view — the  libera- 
tion of  oppressed  people  from  servitude.  The  first 
wonder  destroyed  confidence  in  the  power  of  ser- 
pents which  were  very  highly  venerated  in  Egypt 
and  in  many  other  ancient  countries,  for  we  are  told 
that  Moses  and  Aaron  could  perfectly  control  them 
and  cause  them  to  appear  and  disappear  at  will. 
When  man  can  show  conclusively  that  these  reptiles 
are  completely  subject  to  his  sway,  they  can  no 
longer  be  regarded  as  proper  objects  for  human 
adoration,  for  it  is  self -evidently  absurd  to  bow  be- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     205 

fore  inferior  creatures  which  are  subject  to  our  will 
and  cannot  protect  themselves  against  any  assault 
we  may  make  upon  their  alleged  superiority.  To 
pollute  the  waters  of  the  Nile,  the  sacred  river  of 
the  Egyptians,  was  to  prove  that  their  river  deities 
were  unable  to  protect  the  stream  against  the  as- 
saults made  upon  it  by  those  greatest  of  wonder- 
workers, Moses  and  Aaron,  who  spoke  in  the  name 
of  a  far  more  powerful  Deity.  We  cannot  suppose 
that  any  people  could  be  at  once  led  fo  acknowledge 
One  Only  Supreme  Being,  but  they  could  quite 
easily  be  induced  to  admit  through  the  agency  of 
manifest  marvels  that  the  Divinity  worshiped  by 
the  Hebrews  was  an  altogether  superior  being  to 
their  own  local  divinities;  and  for  the  purpose  of 
the  Exodus  it  was  clearly  necessary  to  establish  in 
the  mind  of  Pharoah  and  his  generals  that  the  di- 
vinity worshiped  by  the  Israelites  had  greater 
power  than  the  many  gods  and  goddesses  to  whom 
the  Egyptians  in  general  were  accustomed  to  render 
homage.  The  plague  of  frogs  was  directed  against 
an  Egyptian  god  who  was  supposed  to  regard  these 
unclean  creatures  as  peculiarly  sacred,  and  no  sooner 
did  frogs  become  a  definite  nuisance  to  the  Egyp- 
tians than  they  ceased  to  venerate  them,  and  were 
thus  rescued  from  that  particular  phase  of  idolatry. 
No  greater  mistake  could  well  be  made  historically 
or  otherwise  than  to  suppose  that  only  Hebrews  were 
liberated  at  the  time  of  Passover,  for  the  narrative 
inv  Exodus  distinctly  informs  us  that  a  mixed  multi- 
tude went  out  of  Egypt.  The  Egyptians  as  a  na- 
tion were  not  drowned  in  the  Red  Sea,  but  only 
Pharoah's  pursuing  army  who  had  set  forth  with 


2o6     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

the  one  intention  of  dragging  back  into  slavery  those 
who  were  just  escaping  by  way  of  the  Red  Sea 
passage.  The  various  plagues,  therefore,  were  in- 
tended to  enlighten,  not  to  curse,  the  Egyptians, 
though  it  is  said  to  have  come  to  pass  that  those 
who  refused  to  give  heed  to  salutary  warnings  were 
overthrown  in  a  time  of  widespread  calamity.  The 
presence  of  various  obnoxious  insects  in  sacred 
temples  as  well  as  in  secular  houses  served  to  dese- 
crate all  those  places,  and  it  had  long  been  com- 
monly believed  that  no  insect  regarded  as  unclean 
could  possibly  invade  an  Egyptian  sanctuary.  That 
old  tradition  may  well  have  taken  its  rise  in  very 
ancient  times  when  the  priesthood  was  pure  and 
noble,  and  did  actually  possess  some  real  ability  to 
consecrate  buildings  and  sacred  vessels  as  well  as 
to  sanctify  its  own  religious  vestments,  but  that 
time  had  long  passed,  and  the  priesthood  of  the  days 
of  Exodus  had  become,  for  the  most  part,  so  cor- 
rupt that  no  real  sanctity  could  possibly  attach  to  it 
or  to  its  ministrations.  The  subject  of  the  power 
to  consecrate  is  very  finely  treated  by  Annie  Besant 
in  "The  Changing  World,"  particularly  in  the  sec- 
tion headed  "The  Sacramental  Life,"  in  which  she 
furnishes  a  large  amount  of  information  concerning 
"Words  of  Power,"  to  which  she  attributes  the  very 
results  in  these  days  which  have  been  claimed  for 
them  from  time  immemorial.  So  very  much,  ac- 
cording to  this  view  depends  upon  the  consecrator 
that  no  object  can  be  consecrated  simply  by  the  cele- 
bration of  a  rite  or  the  employment  of  a  formula; 
it  takes  a  holy  man  or  woman  to  perform  a  holy  act ; 
the  simple  fact  of  one's  being  a  nominal  priest  or 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     207 

priestess  confers  no  genuine  grace  or  power.  Just 
as  in  India  a  mantra  can  only  be  successfully  used 
by  a  holy  person  who  speaks  the  right  syllables 
in  exactly  the  right  manner,  so  can  we  readily  dis- 
cover by  observing  contemporary  mental  therapeutic 
practice  that  while  nothing  is  easier  than  to  learn 
a  set  of  formulas  and  repeat  them  by  rote,  the  actual 
efficacy  of  this  mode  of  treatment  depends  far  more 
upon  the  man  or  woman  who  makes  use  of  it  than 
upon  the  formula  itself,  though  it  may  also  be  fairly 
claimed  that  there  is  a  suggestive  value  in  certain 
formulated  sentences  quite  apart  from  the  special 
condition  of  the  individual  who  employs  them. 
Again  and  again  we  are  told  in  Exodus  tliat  Moses 
and  Aaron  gave  credentials  of  their  divine  com- 
mission by  healing  the  afflicted,  a  work  which 
Pharoah's  magicians  utterly  failed  in  accomplishing 
whenever  they  undertook  it ;  it  was  not  therefore  the 
production  of  the  Plagues,  but  their  removal,  which 
proved  that  Moses  and  Aaron  were  on  the  righteous 
side  while  their  opponents  were  the  servants  of  un- 
righteousness. Nothing  could  well  be  more  odious 
than  to  believe  that  anvbody  at  any  time  displayed 
delegated  divine  authority  by  producing  plagues  or 
causing  pestilence,  but  when  we  have  learned  that 
though  that  work  can  be  quite  successfully  per- 
formed by  black  magicians,  the  power  to  remove 
plagues  testifies  some  degree  of  divine  authority 
the  case  is  entirely  different,  and  by  no  means  irra- 
tional or  incredible.  We  are  told  that  the  magicians, 
when  they  witnessed  the  power  of  Moses  and  Aaron 
accomplishing  wonders  far  beyond  their  own  power 
to  duplicate,  exclaimed,  "This  is  indeed  the  finger 


2o8     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

of  God,"  an  expression  which  clearly  shows  that 
they  were  amenable  to  reasonable  conviction  and 
did  not  hesitate  to  confess  their  inferiority  when 
such  was  clearly  demonstrated.  There  was  in  Egypt 
at  that  time  a  singular  belief  in  a  divinity  who  pre- 
sided over  flies,  and  indeed  every  creature  mentioned 
in  the  story  of  the  Plagues  was  in  some  way  con- 
nected with  prevailing  idolatry.  It  was,  however, 
only  after  the  slaying  of  the  first-born  sons  that 
Pharoah  is  said  to  have  become  so  terrified  that  he 
not  only  let  the  people  go,  but  urged  the  captives  to 
depart  with  utmost  haste,  lest  even  greater  calami- 
ties should  fall  upon  him  and  his  subjects.  This 
terrible  ordeal  through  which  the  Egyptians  had  to 
pass  suggests  the  outworking  of  the  Law  of  Karma, 
which  metes  out  exact  justice  in  the  long  run  to 
every  individual  and  to  every  nation.  This  slaying 
of  the  first-born  of  the  Egyptians  may  be  regarded 
as  the  fruitage  of  the  previous  slaying  of  the  male 
children  of  the  Hebrews  by  command  of  an  earlier 
Pharoah.  What  we  do  to  others  we  often  un- 
knowingly and  unwittingly  do  to  ourselves;  for  all 
evil  thoughts,  words  and  deeds  directed  against 
others  are  like  boomerangs:  they  strike  back  the 
individual  who  throws  them  out.  Herein  lies  the 
open  secret  of  the  much-maligned  but  ever  true 
law  of  retaliation,  expressed  in  the  famous  sen- 
tence, "An  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth." 
This  is  the  law  of  the  universe,  and  no  one  can 
ever  evade  its  operation;  but  it  is  a  beneficent  law, 
and  when  rightly  interpreted  impresses  us  deeply 
with  a  sense  of  divine  equity,  but  conveys  no 
thought  of  vengeance,   for  we  need  the  discipline 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     209 

of  suffering  ourselves  if  we  have  caused  others  to 
suffer.  There  is  something  actually  sublime  in 
that  great  phrase  of  Emerson's,  "No  one  can  do  me 
an  injury  but  myself,"  which  clearly  means  that  we 
are  never  really  hurt  by  any  opposition  from  with- 
out, but  only  by  deterioration  from  within.  Know- 
ing that  a  great  many  Christians  entirely  miscon- 
ceive the  law  of  retaliation  and  believe  that  the 
New  Testament  condemns  it,  we  hope  they  will 
soon  come  to  understand  it  rightly,  and  they  will 
when  they  see  that  it  is  at  no  point  in  conflict  with 
the  Golden  Rule  which  beautifully  advises  us  to  do 
unto  others  only  and  exactly  what  we  wish  others 
to  do  unto  us.  No  great  teacher  ever  instructed 
his  disciples  to  knock  out  their  neighbors'  teeth  and 
pluck  out  their  eyes,  but  all  great  teachers  have 
urged  upon  their  students  the  necessity  for  just  and 
kindly  conduct  in  all  the  relationships  of  life;  con- 
sequently, if  Christians  obey  the  Golden  Rule  they 
will  not  find  the  Jewish  law  working  against  them 
in  any  particular,  even  though  it  be  carried  out  in 
its  minutest  detail.  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
all  Jewish  legislation,  any  more  than  all  Christian 
legislation,  has  been  either  just  or  merciful,  but  we 
are  not  now  endeavoring  to  deal  with  the  particular 
acts  of  certain  individuals,  but  only  with  the  broad 
outlines  of  a  code  of  morals  set  forth  in  the  Penta- 
teuch. In  the  literal  enforcement  of  equitable  law 
we  must  always  be  compelled  to  make  the  utmost 
compensation  or  restitution  in  our  power  for  all  in- 
juries we  have  inflicted  on  others;  but  this  certainly 
does  not  mean  that  others  are  to  perform  upon  us 
the  same  ferocious  acts  that  we  have  performed  on 


2 TO     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

our  neighbors,  for  no  good  end  would  probably  be 
served  by  that  kind  of  savage  retaliation.  There 
can  be  no  real  justification  for  inflicting  any  penalty 
on  anyone  except  w^ith  some  benevolent  end  in  view ; 
but  as  different  people  are  reached  by  different  meth- 
ods, adapted  to  their  varying  stages  of  moral  and 
mental  development,  seemingly  harsh  measures  are 
often  kind  in  reality,  while  very  lenient  ones  are  fre- 
quently ineffective.  We  must,  however,  be  very 
careful,  if  ever  we  feel  disposed  to  take  the  law  into 
our  own  hands,  for  we  are  wisely  told  in  the  Bible 
that  retribution  belongs  to  God,  and  all  matters  will 
be  adjusted  equitably  through  the  outworking  of  an 
unchanging  universal  law  with  which  we  must  sim- 
ply endeavor  to  place  ourselves  in  harmony.  We 
should  do  all  in  our  power  to  discourage  any  form 
of  gloating  over  the  discomfiture  of  our  personal 
antagonists,  and  if  we  celebrate  the  Passover  in  any 
helpful  manner,  we  must  rejoice  only  in  a  commemo- 
ration of  human  liberation  from  slavery  and  think 
of  the  means  provided  to  accomplish  this  noble 
end  merely  as  those  best  suited  to  a  bygone  age  in 
a  distant  country.  The  lesson  of  the  Passover 
itself  is  universal  and  perpetually  enduring,  even 
in  the  case  of  curious  ceremonial  details,  such  as 
the  eating  of  Litter  herbs  and  unleavened  bread, 
which  have  a  far  deeper  significance  when  viewed 
esoterically  than  any  mere  remembrance  of  a  hur- 
ried flight  from  Egvpt  on  a  certain  eventful  night 
between  three  and  four  thousand  years  ago. 

Even  the  curious  traditional  songs  sung  in 
Jewish  homes  on  Pesach  Eve  are  replete  with  deep 
interior  meaning,  though  such  curious  specimens  as 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     211 

"One  Only  Kid"  may  well  be  classed  with  fables 
and  folk-songs  in  general.  Children  always  love 
songs,  fables,  parables  and  all  kinds  of  object  les- 
sons, and  they  grasp  what  there  are  intended  to 
teach  far  more  readily  than  they  learn  by  the  less 
attractive  methods  employed  by  teachers  who  ex- 
clude symbols  from  their  curriculum.  "One  Only 
Kid"  is  a  fair  specimen  of  ancient  combinations  of 
allegory  and  anecdote.  The  main  object  of  the  song 
is  to  demonstrate  the  instability  of  all  mortal  things 
and  the  sole  permanence  of  Deity  and  of  God's  un- 
changing law.  The  child  sings  at  time  of  Pass- 
over celebration  of  his  father's  buying  a  kid,  which 
was  eaten  by  a  cat  (originally  some  large  member  of 
the  feline  family  was  indicated).  Now  the  cat  was 
a  very  sacred  animal  in  ancient  Egypt :  so  sacred 
was  it  held  that  cats  mummied  thousands  of  years 
ago  are  yet  in  a  good  state  of  preservation  in  the 
British  Museum.  But  after  the  cat  had  slain  the 
kid,  a  dog  came  and  bit  the  cat.  Now  the  dog  was 
held  sacred  in  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  to  which 
power  Egypt  was  rendered  tributary  after  the  Is- 
raelitish  exodus.  History  is  therefore  taught  in  the 
quaint  old  melody  as  well  as  religion.  The  dog  in 
turn  is  beaten  with  a  stick,  which  is  emblematical 
of  Persia,  where  it  was  a  tvpe  of  the  strictest  pos- 
sible administration  of  justice,  as  we  learn  from 
the  Zend-Avesta.  Then  a  fire  burns  the  stick,  and 
this  is  said  to  represent  the  conquest  of  Persia  by 
Alexander  of  Macedonia,  who  rushed  forth  like  a 
devouring  flame,  and  in  less  than  seven  years  com- 
pletely overthrew  Persian  supremacy.  The  fire  now 
is  quenched  by  water,  which  typifies  the  Roman 


212     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

power  which  swept  Hke  a  flood  over  the  major  por- 
tion of  the  then  known  world.  Eventually  an  ox 
appears,  and  drinks  up  the  water  which  had 
quenched  the  fire,  and  this  is  looked  upon  as  an  em- 
blem of  Moslem  rule.  But  the  ox  meets  its  fate 
at  the  hands  of  a  butcher,  who  is  said  to  signify  the 
Crusaders  who  as  relentlessly  attacked  the  Moham- 
medans as  they  had  attacked  those  whom  they  had 
previously  conquered.  But  there  comes  a  time  when 
the  butcher  must  fall  before  the  sword  of  the  Angel 
of  Death,  who  will  ultimately  remove  all  strife  from 
the  earth  and  usher  in  the  glorious  age  of  universal 
peace  foretold  by  all  the  greatest  of  the  prophets  of 
all  climes  and  ages.  The  Holy  One  (Blessed  be  He) 
slays  the  Angel  of  Death  who  has  removed  the 
butcher  who  slew  the  ox  which  drank  the  water 
that  quenched  the  fire  that  burnt  the  stick  which 
beat  the  dog  that  bit  the  cat  that  ate  the  kid.  Finally 
the  prophets  assure  us  all  wars  will  cease  and  this 
planet  will  reach  the  zenith  of  its  perfection  and 
become  the  abode  of  only  holy  and  happy  multitudes. 
Such  is  the  predicted  end  of  the  world,  for  by  end 
is  meant  object  in  view.  To  what  end  are  you 
working?  is  a  familiar  inquiry.  Wisely  indeed  does 
John  Uri  Lloyd,  in  his  wonderful  romance,  *'Eti- 
dorhpa"  (Aphrodite  spelled  backward),  represent  a 
radiant  maiden  appearing  to  a  venerable  man  who^ 
had  undergone  the  weirdest  imaginable  experiences,* 
and  saying  to  him,  "I  am  the  end  of  the  world," 
a  highly  significant  sentence,  meaning  that  the  ob- 
ject of  all  terrestrial  experience  is  to  bring  forth 
perfected  humanity,  which  must  be  the  only  sane  and 
satisfactory  solution  of  our  planet's  tragic  history. 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     213 

The  Pillar  of  Fire  which  went  before  the  children 
of  Israel  during  their  forty  years'  march  through  the 
wilderness  between  Egypt  and  Palestine,  has  been 
accounted  for  literally  by  some  modern  students  on 
the  basis  of  discoveries  in  the  vicinity  of  Mount 
Sinai  in  Arabia,  pointing  to  the  volcanic  character 
of  the  district.  A  simply  materialistic  version  of 
the  fire  by  night  and  cloud  by  day  is  that  the  crater 
of  the  volcano  furnished  exactly  such  phenomena. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  and  the  suggestion  is  quite  credible, 
the  esoteric  meaning  of  the  narrative  is  in  no  way 
impaired  by  any  physical  discoveries.  Natural  facts 
have  all  a  spiritual  origin,  and  they  are  always  made 
use  of  illustratively  in  all  the  sacred  literature  of 
the  entire  world.  The  inner  meaning  of  all  spirit- 
ual allegories  must  have  reference  to  continuous 
human  experiences,  therefore  let  us  be  ready  to  en- 
dorse whatever  material  science  may  reveal  con- 
cerning outward  phenomena,  and  at  the  same  time 
search  diligently  for  those  deeper  truths  of  human 
experience  which  relate  us  with  the  usually  unseen, 
but  by  no  means  permanently  unknowable  spiritual 
universe. 

We  should  have  to  write  volumes,  not  chapters, 
did  we  attempt,  even  in  outline,  to  review  and 
comment  upon  the  many  thrilling  incidents  we  have 
left  untouched  in  this  brief  mention  of  the  Book 
of  Exodus.  Among  the  most  powerfully  suggestive 
are  the  stories  of  Quails  and  Manna  and  the  fash- 
ioning and  destroying  of  the  Golden  Calf.  The 
story  of  food  supplies  is  an  intensely  profitable  topic 
on  which  to  meditate,  for  the  heaven-sent  manna 
suggests  an  explanation  of  the  nature  of  evil  so 


214     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

lucid  and  comprehensive  that  he  who  runs  may 
clearly  read.  Provision  for  human  necessities  comes 
sweet  and  wholesome  from  heaven  to  earth,  typify- 
ing all  human  faculties  and  all  natural  and  proper 
means  for  sustaining  our  exterior  existence;  but  if 
we  do  not  make  a  right  use  of  faculties  and  oppor- 
tunities, and  moreover  if  we  do  not  use  these  at  the 
proper  time  as  well  as  in  the  right  way,  they  be- 
come perverted,  unwholesome  and  offensive.  If 
we  are  gluttonous  and  over-eat  of  the  good  food 
provided,  we  are  made  seriously  ill  by  "quail,"  when 
we  could  be  healthily  sustained  by  "manna."  All 
things  are  good  in  their  right  place  and  time;  per- 
version, excess  and  misappropriation  are  the  sole 
causes  of  the  many  miseries  we  bemoan.  In  the  ab- 
sense  of  Moses  (who  denotes  intuition  and  spiritual 
guidance  in  general),  and  when  only  Aaron  (who 
signifies  unillumined  intellect)  is  leading  us,  we  are 
sorely  apt  to  revert  instead  of  to  advance,  and  to  re- 
quire a  material  idol,  like  an  image  of  the  Egyp- 
tian Apis,  to  adore  instead  of  trusting  in  the  true 
spiritual  Divinity.  The  nations  to  be  exterminated 
before  we  can  enter  our  Land  of  Promise  figura- 
tively denote  all  dispositions  and  practices  which 
are  called  in  the  New  Testament  "fleshly  lusts  which 
war  against  the  soul."  We  must  all  accomplish  our 
own  individual  as  well  as  our  collective  exodus, 
which  is  naught  else,  in  its  last  analysis,  than  com- 
plete freedom  attained  from  all  kinds  of  servitude, 
through  strict  adhesion  to  the  voice  of  the  Divine 
within,  obedience  to  which  can  alone  secure  complete 
emancipation  from  every  phase  of  thraldom  which 
yet  embarrasses  the  human  race. 


CHAPTER  XIV: 

the:    message   of   buddhism PURITY   AND 

PHILANTHROPY. 

There  is  a  great  fascination  attaching  to  the  name 
of  Gautama,  the  Buddha,  ahnost  all  over  the  world 
to-day :  partly  on  account  of  the  wide  reading  of 
Sir  Edwin  Arnold's  extremely  beautiful  poem,  *'The 
Light  of  Asia,"  and  partly  by  reason  of  the  ex- 
tremely widespreading  interest  in  a  general  study  of 
Comparative  Religion.  To  some  minds  Buddhism 
appeals  as  a  system  of  philanthropic  philosophy,  not 
properly  religious,  because  it  appears  that  there  are 
no  definitely  theological  elements  in  the  system  as 
originally  taught  and  promulgated,  but  as  defini- 
tions of  religion  are  many  and  varied,  and  as  several 
hundred  millions  of  our  fellow  human  beings  accept 
it  as  their  religion,  and  declare  that  they  take  refuge 
in  Buddha  as  confidently  as  the  devoutest  Christians 
take  refuge  in  Christ,  Buddhism  may  fairly  rank, 
not  only  as  a  religion,  but  as  onc/of  the  great  re- 
ligions of  the  world.  James  Freeman  Clarke,  in 
his  splendid  treatise,  "Ten  Great  Religions,"  has 
styled  Buddhism  the  Protestantism  of  the  East, 
though  from  its  present  ceremonial  aspects  it  far 
more  closely  resembles  Catholicism.  It  dififers  radi- 
cally from  Brahminism  in  its  repudiation  of  caste 

215 


21 6     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

and  by  its  insistence  upon  a  philanthropic  life,  re- 
gardless of  ritual  observances.  Though  recently  re- 
admitted into  India,  for  many  centuries  Buddhists 
were  forced  to  live  outside  the  land  which  gave 
their  religion  birth,  and  it  was  in  Ceylon  and  in 
Thibet  that  the  two  great  divisions  of  the  Buddhist 
faith  found  their  representative  respective  homes. 
Northern  Buddhism  is  distinctly  Theistic,  conse- 
quently it  cannot  be  pessimistic,  for  Theism  and 
Pessimism  are  diametrically  opposed;  but  Southern 
Buddhism  has  been  accounted  atheistic  and  also 
pessimistic.  We  incline  to  another  view  of  Bud- 
dhistic teaching  in  its  entirety  from  that  taken  by 
those  who  make  these  claims  concerning  even  a  sec- 
tion of  it.  The  character  of  the  traditional  Buddha, 
Prince  Gautama,  is  extremely  beautiful,  though  it 
is  by  no  means  perfect  in  all  regards.  About  6oo 
B.  C.  this  prince  was  born  in  India,  at  a  time  when 
mighty  teachers  were  about  to  stir  the  world  in  many 
districts.  Old  legends  state  that  the  birth  of  the 
child  who  was  to  become  a  Buddha  was  heralded 
by  many  wondrous  signs,  such  as  are  traditionally 
associated  with  the  advent  of  all  great  spiritual 
leaders.  One  testimony  is  that  certain  eminent  as- 
trologers declared  that  the  infant  prince  would 
either  become  a  singularly  powerful  earthly  rrionarch 
or  else  renounce  the  world  and  become  the  Buddha 
he  became,  the  choice  being  in  his  own  will.  His 
father  earnestly  desired  that  he  should  take  the  regal 
earthly  pathway  and  did  his  utmost  to  further  that 
ambitious  end,  but  from  very  early  years  the  boy 
showed  indifference  to  worldly  honors,  and  began 
to  evince  extreme  solicitude  for  the  downtrodden 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     217 

and  afflicted  wherever  he  beheld  them.  All  in  vain 
did  the  king  make  efforts  to  keep  all  sight  of  human 
distress  beyond  the  sight  of  his  youthful  son;  the 
boy  could  not  be  effectually  shielded  from  the  vision 
of  prevailing  misery,  and  it  is  related  in  many  an 
Indian  tale  that  if  his  father's  orders  were  strictly 
observed,  so  that  no  pitiable  spectacle  of  misery 
could  reach  the  lad's  outward  gaze,  the  Devas  would 
present  to  him  pictures  of  distress,  the  contemplation 
of  which,  though  only  saddening  him  at  first,  soon 
aroused  within  him  an  unconquerable  determination 
to  break  away  from  royal  restraints  and  plunge  into 
the  vortex  of  suffering  humanity  to  discover  the 
cause  for  such  harrowing  phenomena.  At  the  early 
age  of  sixteen  the  young  prince  was  married  to  a 
charming  princess,  to  whom  he  was  devotedly  at- 
tached, and  his  life  in  general  was  one  spent  in 
the  midst  of  all  procurable  mental  and  physical  de- 
lights. 

But  nothing  could  silence  the  distress  which  in- 
creased within  him  whenever  he  mentally  contrasted 
his  own  luxurious  lot  with  the  wretched  portion  of 
multitudes  of  others  who  apparently  deserved  as 
well  at  the  hands  of  the  universe  as  he.  Unrest  in- 
creased within  him  to  such  an  extent  that  he  could 
enjoy  nothing  w^hile  he  felt  that  others  were  suf- 
fering whom  possibly  he  might  relieve.  It  was  with 
that  sentiment  his  incipient  Buddhahood  began  to 
dawn,  and  it  was  that  same  emotion  which  led  him 
to  renounce  every  delight  in  life  and  to  go  forth 
on  the  serious  quest  for  knowledge  regarding  the 
source  of  human  misery  which  no  splendor  and  no 
personal  affection  could  induce  him  to  ignore. 


2i8     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

It  was  in  the  very  earliest  stages  of  his  career 
that  this  ardent  lover  of  afflicted  humanity  in- 
clined toward  pessimism,  and  it  is  never  an  occasion 
for  surprise  when  the  young  and  tender-hearted  give 
way  to  feelings  akin  to  despair  on  their  first  intro- 
duction to  sorrow  and  death,  which  are  always 
heartrending  spectacles  until  we  have  learned  to 
regard  them  with  philosophic  calm  and  as  not  ulti- 
mately irreconcilable  with  Divine  beneficence.  Grief 
and  death  as  ends  in  themselves  never  can  be  thus 
reconciled,  but  as  factors  in  evolution  they  come  to 
be  seen  as  transmutable  into  very  decided  blessings ; 
and  as  Gautama  proceeded  along  his  upward  spirit- 
ual journey  he  not  only  apprehended  that  glorious 
truth,  he  taught  it  with  joyful  enthusiasm  to  all  dis- 
ciples who  would  accept  it. 

In  his  early  hermit  days  he  followed  the  rigidly 
ascetic  path  which  gave  him  discipline  but  could  not 
bring  him  joy.  No  satisfaction  could  he  win  from 
the  teachings  of  the  ascetics  with  Avhom  he  con- 
sorted ;  he  could  only  learn  the  lesson  pointed  out 
by  the  author  of  Ecclesiastes,  that  from  the  stand- 
point, first  of  the  sensualist  and  then  of  the  intellec- 
tualrst,  whose  eyes  have  not  yet  been  opened  to  dis- 
cern spiritual  realities,  "all  is  vanity  and  vexation 
of  spirit."  Teachers  of  conventional  religion  could 
recommend  fastings  and  all  manner  of  austerities, 
and  these  the  growing  Buddha  tried,  but  they  could 
not  yield  him  peace,  nor  could  they  answer  the 
mighty  question,  the  true  reply  to  which  he  was  de- 
termined in  some  manner  to  obtain.  It  is  recorded 
that  he  lived  a  domestic  life  for  thirteen  years,  for 
his  age  is  given  as  twenty-nine  when  he  took  the 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     219 

decisive  step  and  broke  away  from  family  ties  to 
enter  upon  a  mission  to  the  suffering  of  the  world. 
Much  might  be  said  pro  and  con  as  to  the  value  of 
the  example  hereby  set,  and  it  would  need  consider- 
able caution  to  handle  this  episode  judiciously  and 
helpfully.  Certainly  this  was  no  case  of  desertion 
or  of  leaving  a  family  unprovided  for,  because  a  pal- 
ace remained  the  home  for  wife  and  child,  while 
the  husband  and  father  was  out  on  his  pilgrim  mis- 
sion. Oftentimes  we  hear  men  eulogized  for  going 
to  the  battlefield,  and  it  is  by  no  means  uncommon 
for  patriotic  wives,  regardless  of  the  greatest  per- 
sonal suffering,  to  rejoice  in  the  valor  of  their  hus- 
bands; surely  then,  if  warfare  can  supply  sufficient 
reason  for  leaving  home  and  kindred,  the  conscious- 
ness of  a  mighty  spiritual  mission  may  be  urged  with 
even  greater  earnestness.  There  is  always  some- 
thing intensely  noble  in  the  spirit  which  prompts  to 
voluntary  self-sacrifice  for  good  of  others,  though 
there  is  sometliing  mean  and  contemptible  in  that 
hysterical  thought  about  one's  personal  salvation 
which  has  prompted  many  to  seek  refuge  from  the 
world  in  convents  and  monasteries,  lest  they  should 
suffer  individual  contamination  by  associating  with 
unrighteousness.  Whenever  there  is  an  apparent 
conflict  between  a  lesser  and  a  larger  work,  it  is 
always  heroic  to  choose  the  larger,  especially  when 
that  choice  involves  relinquishment  of  domestic  joys 
and  other  legitimate  pleasures  which  are  standing 
in  the  way  of  the  fulfilment  of  a  larger  ministry. 
Gautama  soon  began  to  teach  that  every  man  must 
work  out  his  own  salvation;  there  is  no  place  for 
any  vicarious  atonement  in  bis  systenx     But  how 


220    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

is  salvation  to  be  worked  out?  That  is  the  vital 
question.  The  Buddha's  doctrine  of  the  Way  of 
Enlightenment  differed  widely  from  the  inculcations 
of  the  Brahmin  priests,  for  as  he  discovered  truth 
by  delving  into  the  inmost  recesses  of  his  own  be- 
ing, so  did  he  counsel  his  disciples  to  do  the  same.' 
Concerning  the  Ultimate  Reality  he  never  dogma- 
tized, but  he  declared  when  one  reached  the  state  of 
Buddhahood  he  perceived  it  without  speculation. 
Between  Nirvana  and  Para-Nirvana,  enlightened 
Buddhists  make  a  great  distinction.  Nirvana  being 
a  condition  of  rest  and  peace,  while  Para-Nirvana 
signifies  a  state  of  realization  of  Divine  Unity  be- 
yond the  power  of  language  to  describe.  The  gen- 
eral philosophy  of  Buddhism  is  summed  up  in  the 
teaching  concerning  the  four  Great  Truths,  which 
are :  Concerning  Suffering ;  Concerning  the  Source 
of  Suffering;  Concerning  Cessation  of  Suffering; 
Concerning  the  Way  that  Leads  to  Release  from 
Suffering.  Suffering  is  due  to  attachilient  to  the  il- 
lusions of  the  mortal  plane;  therefore  deliverance 
from  pain  can  only  be  accomplished  by  the  transfer- 
ence of  our  affections  from  the  transitory  to  the 
permanent.  Instruction  on  this  theme  carries  us 
far  along  a  most  important  pathway,  but  is  a  road 
we  need  to  tread  very  cautiously,  lest  we  mistake 
callousness  for  spirituality.  Against  this  danger 
Mrs.  Besant  has  warned  her  readers  very  clearly, 
and  it  would  be  well  for  all  who  show  a  tendency 
to  confound  indifference  to  human  affection  with 
hopeful  signs  of  spiritual  development  to  read  very 
thoughtfully  the  excellent  counsels  and  warnings 
given   by   this    representative    Theosophist,    whose 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     221 

appreciation  of  the  excellences  of  Oriental  philo- 
sophy is  unsurpassed  in  any  direction.  There  can 
be  no  real  emancipation  from  suffering  until  we 
can  no  longer  derive  benefit  from  its  continuance. 
The  only  sane  and  sensible  view  to  take  of  suffer- 
ing is  that  it  is  a  corrective  and  educational  experi- 
ence, entirely  good  and  indeed  altogether  necessary, 
so  long  as  we  can  only  learn  certain  needed  lessons 
through  its  agency,  then  not  only  superfluous,  but 
actually  impossible  when  we  have  outgrown  condi- 
tions in  the  midst  of  which  it  can  serve  a  useful 
purpose.  This  is  the  teaching  of  the  entire  book  of 
Job,  a  magnificent  poem,  dramatically  portraying  the 
uses  of  affliction  and  calculated  to  inspire  the  stu- 
dious reader  with  a  sense  of  profound  gratitude  for 
the  ministry  of  those  painful  experiences  which 
lead  up  to  a  blissful  knowledge  of  truth  otherwise 
unattainable.  To  call  Buddhism  pessimistic  is  al- 
most as  absurd  as  to  call  Judaism  pessimistic,  be- 
cause individual  Jews  may  appear  to  be  pessimists ; 
yet  the  parrot  cry  is  raised  continually  that  Bud- 
dhists are  all  pessimists,  and  seek  a  substitute  for 
bliss  in  the  oblivion  of  annihilation.  The  Bud- 
dhist Church  has  indeed  become  so  largely  formal- 
istic  that  ritual  observances,  to  which  its  alleged 
founder  attached  no  importance  whatever,  have  been 
allowed  to  obscure  the  pure  ethical  teachings  of  the 
greatly  unfolded  soul  on  whose  doctrine  the  insti- 
tution professes  to  be  founded,  and  it  is  always  pos- 
sible for  doubt  and  pessimism  to  grow  and  thrive 
where  only  ceremonoy  and  tradition  are  insisted  on. 
The  doctrine  of  Karma,  to  which  Buddhists  all 
adhere,  is  an  optimistic  view  of  ultimate  attainment 


222     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

when  rightly  comprehended.  The  source  of  suffer- 
ing is  in  the  illusory  belief,  with  which  we  are  all 
to  some  degree  tinctured,  that  the  outward  shapes 
of  things  are  the  only  realities,  therefore  we  cling 
frantically  to  those  transitory  vehicles  of  the  spirit, 
and  suffer  bitterly  when  they  are  disintegrated.  If 
it  be  asked  why  humanity  falls  into  this  illusion,  an 
answer  is  readily  forthcoming — viz.,  that  as  we  need 
our  outward  bodies  temporarily,  and  we  should  not 
be  likely  to  preserve  them  if  we  did  not  value  them, 
the  over-estimate  we  place  upon  them  is  simply  an 
exaggeration  of  their  importance.  It  is  not  by  steel- 
ing ourselves  against  affection  and  becoming  an- 
chorites that  we  can  tread  Buddha's  eight-fold  path 
to  blessedness,  but  by  learning  to  see  things  in  due 
relative  proportion  and  find  this  abiding  entity, 
though  the  mortal  sheath  may  disappear.  Suffering 
ceases  when  we  have  outgrown  all  desire  for  separ- 
ated existence,  but  we  have  no  right  to  infer  from 
this  that  there  is  no  individual  immortality;  rather 
can  we  behold  a  glorious  vision  of  life  immortal 
when  all  entities  composing  our  humanity  are  so  per- 
fectly united  in  mutual  love  that  they  constitute  an 
indivisible  unity.  ''Kill  out  the  sense  of  separate- 
ness,"  exhorts  Mabel  Collins,  in  ''Light  on  the 
Path,"  which  is  a  paradoxical  presentation  of  Bud- 
dhistic doctrine.  Separateness  does  not  mean  in- 
dividual distinctness,  but  mutual  antagonism,  and 
just  so  long  as  the  slightest  vestige  of  antagonistic 
feeling  remains  in  any  consciousness,  the  possessor 
thereof  has  not  yet  attained  the  bliss  of  the  condi- 
tion called  Nirvana,  which  we  are  assured  the 
Buddha  reached  before  he  quitted  his  mortal  em- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     223 

bodiment.  The  Sublime  Eight-fold  Path  consists 
of  Right  Views ;  Right  Aspirations ;  Right  Speech ; 
Right  Conduct ;  Right  Living ;  Right  Effort ;  Right 
Mindfulness ;  Right  Recollectedness.  William  Wal- 
ter Atkinson,  editor  of  ''New  Thought:  A  Jour- 
nal of  Practical  Idealism,"  published  in  Chicago, 
has  styled  Buddhism  "Negative  Idealism,"  in  con- 
tradistinction from  "Positive  Idealism,"  for  which 
he  particularly  stands ;  but  though  he  thus  designates 
the  system  (we  think  too  sweepingly),  he  very  wisely 
adds :  "The  two  phases  of  Idealism  are  but  two  sides 
of  the  shield  of  Truth" ;  a  most  admirable  remark. 
Our  only  regret  is  that  the  maker  of  it  should  have 
previously  called  Buddhism  pessimistic.  It  is,  of 
course,  impossible  to  speak  authoritatively  for  the 
Buddhist  Church  in  any  section  of  the  world,  unless 
one  is  an  accredited  official  thereof,  but  it  is  not 
with  later  developments,  in  many  cases  loaded  with 
undesirable  accretions,  that  we  need  feel  concerned 
if  we  wish  to  discover  what  was  the  original  Bud- 
dhistic doctrine.  An  impartial  outsider  desiring  to 
learn  the  tenets  of  primitive  Christianity  would  very 
naturally  turn  to  the  New  Testament  for  informa- 
tion, rather  than  to  any  one  of  the  numerous  sects 
and  parties  in  Christendom  which  differ  so  widelv 
one  from  the  other.  It  has  been  reported  that  the 
Japanese,  who  were  some  time  ago  contemplating 
the  adoption  of  a  new  State  Religion  to  supplant 
their  (at  that  time)  unsatisfactory  Shintoism,  un- 
dertook to  seriously  consider  Christianity.  Chris- 
tian missionaries  had  long  been  active  in  Japan,  and 
much  benevolent  and  educational  work  had  been 
carried  on  in  connection  with  the  best  of  the  mis- 


224     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

sions.  Propositions  were  therefore  made  that  Chris- 
tianity be  carefully  examined  with  a  view  to  testing 
its  adaptability  to  the  religious  needs  of  Japan,  when 
straightway  appeared  about  thirty  distinct  varieties 
of  Christianity,  each  one  put  forward  by  its  advo- 
cates as  the  nearest  to  the  original  Gospel  of  Jesus. 
What  effect  could  so  bewildering  an  array  of  rival 
Christianities  have  on  the  examiners  but  to  cause 
them  to  decide  that  their  own  Shintoism  was  far 
less  confusing,  and  though  it  might  not  be  ideal,  it 
was  at  any  rate  better  adapted  to  Japan  than  such 
a  bewildering  array  of  competing  denominations. 
Now  if  there  are  so  many  varieties  of  Christianity 
after  nineteen  centuries  since  its  primitive  inception, 
it  is  not  surprising  that  in  the  course  of  about  twenty- 
five  centuries  different  phases  of  Buddhism  have 
appeared,  each  sect  or  party  claiming  to  give  the 
truest  and  completest  version  of  Gautama's  original 
enunciations;  but  on  that  account  we  have  no  right 
to  discard  what  we  can  clearly  see  is  "wheat,"  be- 
cause we  refuse  to  endorse  the  "tare"  which  has 
sprung  up  in  the  same  field  with  it.  Institutionalized 
Buddhism  is  not  the  Buddha's  simple  doctrine  un- 
alloyed with  foreign  elements,  but  all  the  established 
systems  do  contain  very  much  that  is  worthy  of  a 
great  world-enlightener,  together  with  much  that 
is  conspicuously  unworthy.  In  the  Christian  wotrld 
we  can  trace  the  form  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Hier- 
archy to  the  Roman  Empire,  and  in  Presbyterlanism 
we  can  see  the  plan  of  the  Roman  Republic.  No 
great  spiritual  teacher  ever  surrounded  himself  with 
the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  a  regal  court,  and 
in  the  case  of  the  Buddha  all  accounts  declare  that 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     22^ 

though  he  was  born  into  it  he  voluntarily  renounced 
it.  It  is  quite  possible  to  carry  out  ceremonies  in 
the  name  of  one  who  cared  nothing  about  them,  pro- 
vided he  did  not  expressly  forbid  them,  but  to  claim 
that  he  established  them  is  sheer  imposture  which 
may  delude  the  ignorant  but  can  never  deceive  the 
educated.  It  is  always  the  "letter"  which  killeth 
while  the  "spirit"  giveth  life,  and  yet  it  seems  im- 
possible to  clothe  any  spirit  without  some  letter. 
Organized  Buddhism  has  erred  exactly  where  all 
other  systems  have  erred — viz.,  in  over-emphasiz- 
ing non-essentials,  until  with  the  lapse  of  ages  the 
garments  have  come  to  be  so  highly  prized  that  the 
original  wearer  has  been  quite  obscured  by  such 
massive  drapery  and  such  heavy  veils.  Buddhism 
to-day  is  emerging  from  its  long  captivity  and  will 
soon  present  a  smiling  face  to  the  world,  no  longer 
shrouded  with  the  veils  of  cumbersome  unnecessary 
ritual  observances,  and  no  longer  exploited  by  ig- 
norant and  oppressive  priests. 

Nowhere  in  modern  literature  have  we  such  a 
complete  and  beautiful  setting  forth  of  the  essence 
of  Buddhism  as  in  Sir  Edwin  Arnold's  poem,  "The 
Light  of  Asia,"  which,  though  composed  by  a  patri- 
otic Englishman,  received  unqualified  endorsement  at 
the  hands  of  the  High  Priest  of  Buddhism  in  Ceylon. 
Dr.  J.  M.  Peebles  and  other  distinguished  American 
travelers  have  met  with  cordial  welcome  in  that 
lovely  island  where,  at  Colombo,  there  has  long  been 
established  a  Buddhist  School  for  Girls,  under  the 
kindly  auspices  of  the  Theosophical  Society,  where 
English  women  teach  Cingalese  maidens  much  that 


226    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

is  highly  useful  and  quite  in  harmony    with    the 
ancient  Buddhistic  faith. 

It  may  seem  strange  to  some  that  British  women 
should  engage  in  such  a  work,  but  it  is  one  of 
great  utility  and  calculated  to  accomplish  a  widely 
beneficent  end.  India  and  Ceylon  are  parts  of  the 
British  Empire,  therefore  it  is  the  plain  duty  of 
enlightened  British  people  to  do  their  utmost  to 
bring  about  good-fellowship  between  the  native  popu- 
lations and  the  British.  Instead  of  endeavoring  to 
take  from  them  their  ancestral  faith  and  bid  them 
scorn  it  as  a  ''heathen  abomination,"  it  is  the  clear 
duty  of  those  whose  "souls  are  lighted  with  wisdom 
from  on  high"  to  so  walk  in  the  light  of  that  wis- 
dom as  to  hasten  the  dawning  of  that  glorious  new 
morning  when  in  the  sunlight  of  a  larger  knowledge 
of  truth  the  several  nations  of  the  earth  shall  see 
their  way  to  righteous  federation.  There  can  be 
a  fraternity  of  religious  systems,  each  one  purified 
from  the  excresent  accretions  which  have  long  con- 
cealed much,  though  never  the  whole  of  its  in- 
dwelling excellences.  Buddhism  makes  a  brave 
showing  when  restored  to  its  original  simplicity,  and 
the  heroic  figure  of  Guatama  stands  forth  as  one 
who  loved  all  forms  of  life  and  found  an  expres- 
sion of  Divinity  in  everything.  "Cosmic  Conscious- 
ness" is  a  favorite  phrase  with  many  people  to-day, 
and  it  is  to  the  life  and  teachings  of  the  Buddha  that 
we  may  well  turn  for  a  beautiful  historical  example 
of  it.  With  the  iron  rules  of  Caste  a  lover  of  the 
entire  human  race  can  have  no  sympthy,  especially 
when  such  rules  are  applied  to  serve  the  ends  of 
oppression  and  result  in  ignoring  individual  worth, 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     227 

while  slavishly  bowing  before  inherited  position.  It 
was  the  special  glory  of  Gautama  that  he  taught 
his  country  people  the  essential  truths  contained  in 
their  beautiful  historic  Vedas,  which  are  full  of 
exquisite  spiritual  teaching,  fundamentally  at  vari- 
ance with  the  religious  tyranny  established  in  India 
against  which  the  Buddha's  most  vigorous  protest 
was  made.  We  may  sum  up  the  essential  teachings 
of  the  purest  forms  of  Buddhism  in  two  splendid 
words  —  Philanthropy  and  Purity  —  the  same  two 
majestic  substantives  which  Canon  Hensley  Henson 
of  Westminster  employed  in  a  noble  sermon  which 
he  preached  on  Trinity  Sunday,  1907,  in  St.  Mar- 
garet's, Westminster,  when  he  summarised  the  es- 
sentials of  universal  religion  in  exposition  of  the 
famous  text  from  the  Epistle  of  James,  "Pure  re- 
ligion and  undefiled  before  God  and  the  Father  is 
this:  To  visit  the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their 
affliction,  and  to  keep  himself  unspotted  from  the 
world."  Not  a  hint  here  of  any  belief  in  any  dogma 
as  necessary  to  salvation.  But  this  we  are  told  is  a 
Christian  saying.  Let  it  be  so;  it  is  also  in  strict 
accord  with  original  Buddhism,  and  may  well  form 
a  link  between  sincere  and  spiritually-minded  people 
adhering  to  either  cult  or  creed. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

MAGIC   IN   EUROPE  IN  THE   MIDDLE  AGES — ITS  CON- 
NECTION   WITH    MYSTERIOUS    HEAI.ING    AND 
MARVEI.I.OUS  DEUVERANCES. 

Though  Judaism  is,  on  the  whole,  a  distinctively 
Theistic  and  Ethical  Religion,  comparatively  Iktle 
given  to  either  Mysticism  or  Magic,  there  have  been 
many  notable  instances  of  thoroughly  respectable 
and  noble-minded  Jews,  among  whom  are  to  be 
found  some  distinguished  Rabbis,  who  have  prac- 
tised magical  arts  and  taught  them  to  a  few  care- 
fully selected  disciples.  There  are  numberless  pas- 
sages in  the  Old  Testament  which  contain  ferocious 
denunciations  of  Babylonian  sorcery  and  witchcraft, 
as  we  have  endeavored  to  show  in  other  sections  of 
this  volume ;  but  the  aim  of  these  denunciations  was 
to  entirely  discountenance  all  dabbling  in  vicious 
psychic  practises  which  had  for  their  object  the 
working  of  some  sort  of  injury.  Laws  against 
witchcraft,  which  are  not  yet  entirely  erased  from 
modern  statute  books,  were  originally  intended  to 
inflict  severe  penalties  upon  all  who  sought  by  magi- 
cal means  to  endanger  the  safety  of  individuals,  or 
to  work  harm  upon  a  community  by  attempting  to 
blight  the  harvest,  poison  the  wells,  or  in  some 
other  manner  work  grievous  injury  upon  a  com- 

228 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     229 

niunity.  Obviously  such  laws  were  not  directed 
against  any  who  sought  to  practise  a  White  Art, 
which  had  for  its  sole  objects  healing  the  sick  and 
in  other  ways  conferring  blessings  upon  humanity; 
but  as  neither  priests  nor  legislators  always  knew 
just  where  to  draw  the  line  between  White  and 
Black  Magic,  and  moreover  as  charges  of  witch- 
craft, brought  often  against  unpopular  but  entirely 
innocent  persons,  served  to  divert  attention  from  the 
real  culprits  when  offences  had  actually  been  com- 
mitted, legislation  against  witchcraft  very  often  de- 
feated, rather  than  served,  the  ends  of  justice.  It 
also  encouraged  many  degrading  superstitions  which 
retarded  the  progress  of  sanitary  science,  while  it 
engendered  and  fostered  that  very  state  of  dread 
of  some  malign  influence  at  work  against  us,  which 
is  one  of  the  most  deterrent  influences  which  can 
possibly  be  set  in  motion  when  a  patient  is  ner- 
vously unstrung  and  needs  confidence  in  Divine,  not 
diabolical,  agency,  to  help  him  to  recovery. 

The  great  beauty  of  Judaism,  as  a  religious  sys- 
tem, is  that  it  requires  no  belief  in  devils  on  the 
part  of  its  adherents,  but  rather  discountenances  than 
encourages  such  belief;  at  the  same  time  Jews,  as 
a  community,  have  seldom  been  entirely  free  from 
some  dread  of  evil  spirits,  though  the  fundamental 
teachings  of  Judaism  are  quite  at  variance  with  any 
doctrine  of  evil  spirits  such  as  orthodox  Christianity 
still  foists  upon  the  world  and  which,  in  a  modified 
form,  many  Spiritualists  and  Occultists  still  engen- 
der. 

One  of  the  most  curious  and  interesting  literary 
examples  of  Jewish  belief  in  Magic  is  to  be  found 


230    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

in  a  treatise  entitled  "The  Book  of  the  Sacred 
Magic  of  Abra-Melin  the  Mage,  as  delivered  by 
Abraham  the  Jew  unto  His  Son  Lamech."  A  trans- 
lation from  the  original  Hebrew  into  French,  con- 
tained in  the  Bibliotheque  de  I'Arsenal,  Paris,  has 
been  rendered  into  English  by  S.  L.  MacGregor- 
Mathers,  whose  works  on  Rosicrucianism  and  other 
mysterious  and  unusual  themes  are  of  great  interest 
to  those  who  desire  to  step  aside  from  the  beaten 
paths  of  literature  and  stray  into  weird  and  fascin- 
ating byways.  The  English  translator  of  this  curi- 
ous MS.,  which  goes  back,  in  the  original,  to  1458, 
declares  that  Bulwer  Lytton  and  Eliphas  Levi  were 
acquainted  with  this  MS.,  which  contains  much  ma- 
terial from  which  such  a  story  as  Lytton's  "Zanoni" 
might  easily  have  been  embellished.  The  treatise  is 
divided  into  three  books,  the  first  of  which  deals 
principally  with  the  travels  of  the  author,  which 
were  quite  extensive  and  brought  him  into  close 
association  with  many  highly  placed  and  well-dis- 
tinguished personages.  The  second  book  is  filled 
with  matter  pertaining  to  Ceremonial  Magic,  which, 
like  all  treatises  of  this  sort,  arouses  much  more 
curiosity  than  it  satisfies.  It  is  excellent  reading 
for  any  who  want  to  know  exactly  what  the  best 
type  of  Mediaeval  Magicians  really  believed,  and 
how  they  setto  work  to  accomplish  their  mysterious 
performances,  and  it  has  the  great  advantage  of 
containing  a  large  amount  of  excellent  moral  coun- 
sel, to  the  effect  that  all  who  engage  in  such  occult 
undertakings  must  do  so  with  a  full  sense  of  the 
grave  responsibilities  they  are  assuming,  and  always 
with  righteous  ends  in  view.     The  third  book  de- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     231 

scribes  enchantments  of  various  kinds,  some  of 
which  enter  upon  the  field  of  necromancy,  and  prove 
that  it  was  actually  believed  that  within  the  space 
of  seven  years  after  death  it  was  possible  to  in- 
duce the  departed  spirit  to  temporarily  reanimate 
the  discarded  physical  frame,  if  that  had  been  pre- 
served through  the  interim.  It  is  quite  clear  that 
the  noblest  among  magicians  declared  that  such  a 
feat  should  never  be  attempted  except  in  cases  of 
extreme  gravity,  and  only  where  it  was  highly  im- 
portant to  gain  information  directly  from  the  de- 
parted spirit;  but  happily  for  the  world  of  to-day, 
those  most  absorbed  in  Spiritualism  are  seeking  only 
to  get  in  touch  with  their  departed  friends  by  em- 
ploying methods  which  have  no  connection  with  the 
arts  of  necromancy. 

Evil  spirits  are  said  to  be  rightly  obedient  to  the 
will  of  the  trained  magician,  who  puts  them  to  work 
as  servitors,  but  if  he  loses  self-control  or  permits 
himself  to  misuse  magic  for  base  ends,  he  then  be- 
comes subject  to  the  dark  forces,  who  cause  him 
much  suffering  as  well  as  inconvenience.  There 
can  hardly  be  any  doubt  that  much  good  has  often 
been  accomplished  in  connection  with  the  better 
kinds  of  magic,  particularly  in  the  wide  domain  of 
therapeutic  practise,  where  we  know  the  influence 
of  ideas  and  suggestions  over  physical  conditions 
is  inestimably  great. 

It  is  recorded  that  this  magical  Abraham  healed 
a  multitude  of  disorders  of  many  varieties,  includ- 
ing leprosy.  There  is  nothing  incredible  or  irra- 
tional in  this  statement,  for  there  is  no  reason  why 
any  disease  should  be  looked  upon  as  essentially 


232     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

incurable.  On  this  whole  subject  of  seemingly  mir- 
aculous healing  the  popular  mind  needs  a  great 
deal  of  setting  straight,  and  we  see  many  signs  of 
promise  that  popular  fallacies  are  soon  to  be  dis- 
pelled by  the  appearance  on  the  scene  of  practical 
activity  of  a  large  number  of  well-equipped  mental 
practitioners,  who  will  give  rational  accounts  of 
their  ministry  and  thereby  deliver  the  topic  of  Sug- 
gestive practise  from  the  many  phantasies  which 
still  surround  it.  Ceremonies  carry  great  weight 
with  many  people,  who  seem  as  yet  quite  unable  to 
grasp  the  simpler  and  directer  teachings  of  Psycho- 
Therapy.  From  five  to  six  centuries  ago  the  masses 
were  far  less  acquainted  with  the  rudiments  of  ra- 
tional psychology  than  they  are  to-day,  and  had  it 
not  been  for  the  incantations  of  wonder-workers  on 
their  behalf,  many  a  sufferer  would  have  remained 
incurable,  incurability  being  an  entirely  relative 
term.  A  case  may  be  quite  incurable  in  one  set  of 
circumstances  and  readily  cured  when  the  patient 
is  transferred  to  different  surroundings.  Change 
of  mental  attitude  is  the  prime  essential  in  nearly 
every  malady,  and  there  are  indeed  no  cases  of  any 
sort  where  faith  and  hope  and  courage  are  not  ex- 
tremely valuable  helpers.  Is  is  said  that  as  many 
as  8,413  persons  were  healed  through  the  agency 
of  the  magician  whose  work  we  are  now  consider- 
ing, and  it  is  highly  important  to  note  exactly  the 
position  taken  by  the  healer  concerning  the  nature 
of  his  ministry.  Abraham  was  born  in  1362;  his 
age  was  therefore  forty-eight  in  1410,  when  he 
calls  himself  ninety-six,  in  consequence  of  a  curious 
reckoning  which   makes  a  magical  year  only  six 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     233 

months  in  length.  Abraham  teaches  that  the  best 
years  of  a  man's  life  for  the  practise  of  ceremonial 
magic  are  from  twenty-five  to  fifty,  probably  be- 
cause he  had  discovered  that,  on  an  average,  the 
mental  and  physical  faculties  are  simultaneously 
most  active  during  that  period,  though  there  are 
many  undisputed  instances  of  great  mental  and  phy- 
sical vigor  appearing  in  combination  much  before 
the  age  of  twenty-five  and  very  long  after  fifty. 
The  following  quotation  is  very  explicit  in  show- 
ing how  magicians  have  claimed  to  be  able  to  secure 
for  their  clients  the  efficient  services  of  unseen  ser- 
vitors, and  though  we  may  incline  to  attach  far 
more  importance  to  the  patient's  own  mental  atti- 
tude than  to  magical  rites  per  se,  w^e  cannot  deny 
that  there  may  be  serving  spirits  ready  to  obey  the 
will  of  a  magical  director,  much  as  nurses  stand 
ever  ready  to  obey  the  instructions  of  doctors  under 
whom  they  are  working  and  in  whose  skill  and  wis- 
dom they  have  confidence. 

''Up  till  now  I  have  healed  of  persons  of  all  con- 
ditions, bewitched  unto  death,  no  less  than  8,413, 
and  belonging  to  all  religions,  without  making  an 
exception  in  any  case.  I  gave  unto  mine  Em- 
peror Sigismond,  a  very  clement  prince,  a  Familiar 
Spirit  of  the.  Second  Hierarchy,  even  as  he  com- 
manded me,  and  he  availed  himself  of  its  services- 
with  prudence.  He  wished  also  to  possess  the 
secret  of  the  whole  operation,  but  as  I  was  warned 
by  the  Lord  that  it  was  not  His  will,  he  contented 
himself  \vith  what  was  permitted,  not  as  Emperor, 
but  as  a  private  person ;  and  I  even  by  means  of 
my  art  facilitated  his  marriage  with  his  wife;  and 


234    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

I  caused  him  to  overcome  the  great  difficulties 
which  opposed  his  marriage.  I  delivered  also  the 
Count  Frederick  by  the  means  of  2,000  artificial 
cavalry  (the  which  I  by  mine  art  caused  to  appear 
according  unto  the  tenor  of  the  twenty-ninth  chap- 
ter of  the  Third  Book  here  following),  free  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  Duke  Leopold  of  Saxonia,  the 
which  Count  Frederick  without  me  would  have  lost 
both  his  own  life  and  his  estate  as  well  (which  lat- 
ter would  not  have  descended  unto  his  heirs). 

"Unto  the  Bishop  of  our  City  also,  I  showed  the 
betrayal  of  his  government  at  Orembergh,  one  year 
before  the  same  occurred;  and  I  say  no  more  con- 
cerning this  because  he  is  an  Eccesiastic,  passing 
over  in  silence  all  that  I  have  further  done  to  render 
him  service. 

"The  Count  of  Varvich  was  delivered  by  me 
from  prison  in  England  the  night  before  he  was 
to  have  been  beheaded. 

"I  aided  the  flight  of  the  Duke  and  of  his  Pope 
John,  from  the  Council  of  Constance,  who  would 
otherwise  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  enraged 
Emperor  M ;  and  the  latter  having  asked  me  to  pre- 
dict unto  him  which  one  of  the  two  Popes,  John 
XXIII  and  Martin  V,  should  gain  in  the  end,  my 
prophecy  was  verified ;  that  fortune  befalling  which 
I  had  predicted  unto  him  at  Ratisbon.  At  the  time 
when  I  was  lodged  at  the  house  of  the  Duke  of 
Bavaria,  for  matters  of  the  greatest  importance, 
the  door  of  my'  room  was  forced,  and  I  had  the 
value  of  83,000  Hungarian  pieces  stolen  from  me 
in  jewels  and  money.  As  soon  as  I  returned,  the 
thief   (although  he  was  a  Bishop)   was  forced  to 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     235 

himself  bring  it  back  to  me  in  person  and  to  re- 
turn with  his  own  hands  to  me  the  money,  jewels, 
and  account  books,  and  to  give  me  the  principal 
reasons  which  had  forced  him  to  commit  the  theft, 
rather  than  any  other  person." 

A  great  many  more  instances  of  various  kinds, 
equally  wonderful,  are  given,  but  the  few  we  have 
quoted  are.  typical  and  serve  to  show  what  were 
the  stupendous  claims  made  for  his  art  by  Abraham, 
who  always  used  it  conscientiously. 

Works  of  this  kind  abound  in  literary  and  his- 
toric interest,  and  they  are  also  freely  interspersed 
with  salutary  moral  counsels,  but  we  doubt  whether 
there  are  many  among  us  who  can  put  the  magical 
formulas  to  any  practical  account ;  and  is  there  any 
good  reason  why  we  should  actuallv  attempt  to  do 
s6?  Professedly  Occult  literature  is  largely  given 
over  to  uncanny  narratives,  some  of  them  calculated 
to  induce  a  creepy  dread,  especially  at  Christmas- 
tide,  when  ghost  stories  are  especially  popular,  but 
this  feature,  at  least  in  our  opinion,  needs  to  be  re- 
pressed rather  than  exaggerated,  and  of  one  thing 
we  may  be  quite  convinced — viz.,  that  if  there  be 
such  malign  or  uncanny  psychic  influences  in  our 
immediate  vicinage  as  many  people  continue  to  be- 
lieve, our  surest  protection  against  them  is  to  culti- 
vate such  heroic  faith  in  the  omnipotence  of  good- 
ness that  we  shall  cherish  no  lurking  dread  of  evil. 
The  talismanic  value  of  different  psalms  is  insisted 
upon  by  many  mediaeval  writers,  and  there  is  doubt- 
less considerable  reason  for  attributing  to  them  ex- 
traordinary efficacy,  because  they  breathe  a  spirit 


236     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

of  perfect  trust  in  Deity  and  discountenance  all  fear 
of  evil  influences,  both  seen  and  unseen. 

In  a  very  curious  and  scarcely  reliable  produc- 
tion, called  fantastically  *'The  Sixth  and  Seventh 
Books  of  Moses,"  we  find  the  entire  Psalter  en- 
dowed with  magical  potencies.  Each  one  of  the 
150  psalms  is  said  to  be  a  talisman  against  some 
kind  of  sickness  or  danger.  Whether  the  entire 
Book  of  Psalms  can  be  usefully  employed  in  such 
a  manner  is  open  to  controversy,  but  we  can  readily 
see  how  a  recitation  of  such  psalms  as  the  23d 
and  91st  in  particular,  may  prove  of  great  assist- 
ance in  times  of  severe  mental  distress  and  diffi- 
culty. The  peculiar  tenacity  with  which  people 
cling  to  the  Psalter  lends  color  to  the  claim  that  it 
possesses  some  magical  qualities,  but  in  its  accepted 
English  version,  at  any  rate,  it  needs  a  large  amount 
of  revising  and  a  vast  deal  of  wise  interpreting  to 
make  it  suitable  for  such  undiscriminating  use  as 
the  Church  of  England,  in  its  daily  services,  makes 
of  it.  Swedenborgians  and  Mystics  get  over  all 
moral  difficulties,  when  they  encounter  imprecatory 
clauses,  by  declaring  that  as  to  their  interior  mean- 
ing they  refer,  not  to  personal  enemies  but  to  im- 
personal lusts  "which  war  against  the  soul."  When 
we  wisely  pray  for  the  destruction  of  our  enemies 
we  are  really  seeking  the  annihilation  of  our  own 
vicious  tendencies,  the  encouragement  of  which 
may  certainly  render  us  susceptible  to  unholy  in- 
flux, no  matter  from  what  source  it  may  proceed. 
Were  this  view  always  taken  and  explained  to  choir 
boys  before  they  sing  in  cathedrals  and  parish 
churches,  there  would  be  no  valid  reason  for  pro- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     237 

testing  against  the  unceasing  use  of  the  entire 
Psalter;  but  how  often  is  this  matter  explained? 
and  when  it  is  not,  the  pernicious  influence  of 
supplicating  the  Almighty  to  destroy  one's  personal 
foes,  if  one  be  supposed  to  have  such,  is  terrible  in 
its  effects  upon  the  ethics  of  the  rising  generation. 
The  wide  incompatibility  between  Mediaeval  magic 
and  the  best  kinds  of  modern  mental  therapeutic 
systems,  is  that  the  former  is  loaded  down  with 
belief  in  enemies  against  whom  we  must  work  by 
the  employment  of  magical  spells,  while  the  latter 
endorses  the  sublime  saying  of  Emerson,  *'No  one 
can  do  me  an  injury  but  myself." 

Christian  Scientists,  while  verbally  repudiating 
any  endorsement  of  magical  theories  and  practises, 
are  strangely  inconsistent  in  clinging  to  their  pet 
bug-a-boo  "malicious  animal  magnetism."  Were 
they  as  a  denomination  once  for  all  to  give  up  that 
old  devil  with  a  new  title,  they  could  soon  make 
for  themselves  a  noble  place  among  the  advanced 
philosophers  of  our  day;  but  just  so  long  as  that 
recrudescence  of  a  most  objectionable  part  of  the 
superstitious  belief  of  old-time  magicians  clings 
to  their  movement,  they  will  engender  the  very 
dread  of  evil  which  their  famous  text-book 
''Science  and  Health  with  Key  to  the  Scriptures," 
by  the  founder  of  the  cult,  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy, 
renders  utterly  illogical  in  the  celebrated  phrase 
"All  is  good;  there  is  no  evil."  Whatever  that  sen- 
tence may  exactly  mean, — and  many  different  in- 
terpretations have  been  placed  upon  it, — it  cannot 
logically  be  accepted  in  connection  with  any  dread 
of  evil.     All  the  good  accomplished  by  old-school 


238     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

magicians,  and  all  the  good  done  by  modern  mental 
therapeutists  is  accomplished  by  strengthening  the 
will  and  calming  the  mind  of  sufferers,  to  whom 
evil  appears  a  great  and  terrible,  usually  an  invin- 
cible, reality.  Abraham's  story  of  conjuring  up 
artificial  soldiers  seems  all  of  a  piece  with  some 
scenes  in  Marie  Corelli's  "Sorrows  of  Satan,"  par- 
ticularly the  magical  appearance  and  disappearance 
of  phantom  servitors  at  the  *'Willowsmere"  festival 
which  was  organized  by  'Xucio  Rimanez."  We 
are  treading  on  very  treacherous  ground  if  we 
venture  to  speak  dogmatically  concerning  the  pos- 
sible connection  between  our  ordinary  external  life 
and  mysterious  unseen  influences,  and  we  have  no 
right  whatever  to  wilfully  close  our  eyes  in  the  face 
of  any  well-supported  evidence.  It  is  however  very 
necessary  to  insist  that  great  danger  to  health  and 
reason  attend  upon  dabbling  in  ceremonial  magic 
to  gratify  morbid  curiosity,  and  far  greater  are  the 
penalties  we  shall  have  to  pay  if  we  allow  ourselves 
to  be  actuated  by  any  malicious  motive.  No  matter 
in  what  department  of  Psychical  Research  we  may 
be  seeking  for  knowledge  we  must  never  fail  to 
remember  the  wise  words  of  Alfred  Tennyson,  who 
sometimes  felt  an  intense  desire  to  rend  the  veil 
and  gaze  upon  what  lies  behind  it.  To  all  every- 
where who  are  thinking  of  embarking  upon  the 
dimly-lighted  ocean  of  magical  evocation,  or  even 
attempting  to  get  into  conscious  communion  with 
their  departed  (or  at  least  unseen)  loved  ones,  we 
commend  the  following  quatrain  from  "In  Memo- 
riam." 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     239 

"How  pure  in  heart  and  sound  at  head, 
With  what  divine  affections  bold 
Should  be  the  man  whose  thoughts  would  hold 
An  hour's  communion  with  the  dead. 

They  haunt  the  silence  of  the  breast, 
Imagination  calm  and  fair, 
The  memory  like  a  cloudless  air, 
The  conscience  as  a  sea  at  rest. 

In  vain  shalt  thou  or  any  call 
The  spirits  from  their  golden  day, 
Unless,  like  them,  thou  too  canst  say 
My  spirit  is  at  peace  with  all. 

But  when  the  heart  Is  full  of  din 
And  doubt  beside  the  portal  waits. 
They  can  but  listen  at  the  gates 
And  hear  the  household  jar  within." 

We  notice  in  these  exquisite  lines  how  the 
thoughtful  poet  has  assigned  doubt  to  the  same 
low  place  to  which  all  magicians  persistently  con- 
sign it.  Doubt,  they  declare,  renders  all  attempts 
invalid,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  weakening  effect 
doubt  has  on  the  doubter.  And  here  let  us  learn 
a  much-needed  lesson  ere  we  attempt  to  succeed  in 
any  form  of  mental  practise.  Thoughts  are  trans- 
missible; mental  states  are  communicated  from 
practitioner  to  patient  and  from  teacher  to  pupil. 
How,  then,  can  we  reasonably  expect  to  prove 
successful  In  a  work  we  undertake  half-heartedly? 


240     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

The  particular  methods  employed,  in  a  majority  of 
instances,  are  not  nearly  so  important  as  the  mental 
state  of  the  one  who  employs  them.  Henry  Wood 
and  other  able  modern  writers  have  reviewed  the 
medical  practice  of  the  Middle  Ages  most  instruc- 
tively, and  while  we  cannot  approve  of  all  the 
strange  medicaments  and  weird  practices  advocated, 
to  study  a  Mediaeval  pharmacopoeia  is  to  gain  much 
insight  into  the  enormous  influence  that  mental 
states  have  always  exerted  over  physical  conditions 
When  we  treat  the  subject  of  Healing  in  Bible 
Times  impartially,  we  shall  be  able  to  trace  exactly 
the  same  influences  at  work  many  centuries  earlier 
in  Asia  Minor  which  reappeared  and  held  the 
centre  of  the  stage  in  Europe  during  periods 
nearer  to  the  present  day. 

As  the  same  law  works  universally,  time  and 
place  may  be  accounted  well  nigh  negligible  factors 
whenever  we  are  considering  problems,  the  solution 
of  which  is  only  to  be  found  by  studying  deeply 
our  human  constitution. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

ANCIENT  MAGIC  AND  MODERN  THERAPEUTICS 

PARACELSUS  AND  VON   HELMONT. 

Ennemoser's  ''History  of  Magic,  translated  from 
the  original  German  into  excellent  English  by  Wil- 
liam Howitt  (to  whose  other  works  we  have  re- 
ferred), contains  an  enormous  amount  of  intensely 
interesting  information  concerning  all  mysterious 
arts  and  practices,  many  of  which  serve  to  throw  a 
vast  deal  of  light  upon  matters  usually  regarded  as 
too  obscure  or  fanciful  to  merit  much  serious  notice, 
but  which  are  certainly  engaging  the  profound  at- 
tention of  many  of  the  most  brilliant  intellects  of  the 
present  day.  Theosophists  and  Occultists  in  general 
have  no  difficulty  in  ascribing  mysterious  phenomena 
to  the  action  of  various  orders  of  Nature  Spirits 
(sometimes  designated  sprites),  who  can  be  ren- 
dered submissive  to  the  commanding  will  of  a  quali- 
fied magician,  and  if  the  existence  of  these  fascinat- 
ing creatures  be  conceded,  an  explanation  of  magi- 
cal phenomena  is  by  no  means  difficult.  Animals 
are  rightly  subservient  to  humanity,  and  they  gladly 
obey  and  serve  those  who  treat  them  decently ;  in- 
deed, they  are  often  so  greatly  devoted  to  humanity 
that  they  continue  to  evince  affection  even  when  the 
treatment  they  receive  is  cruel  and  barbarous. 

241 


242     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

On  the  unseen  side  of  Nature,  magicians  claim 
there  are  races  of  sub-human  entities  who  sustain  a 
similar  relation  to  humanity  to  that  sustained  by 
animals  on  the  common  objective  plane,  and  while 
it  is  less  easy  to  gain  ascendancy  over  these  races 
than  over  physical  animals  of  domesticated  types,  it 
is  no  more  difficult  for  the  trained  magician  to  make 
them  his  servitors  than  for  an  animal  trainer  to  sub- 
due the  ferocity  of  the  natives  of  the  jungle,  who, 
by  combined  firmness  and  kindness,  can  always  in 
time  be  rendered  docile,  provided  the  trainer  does 
not  allow  himself  ever  to  lose  self-control.  It  is 
not,  however,  by  any  means  exclusively  with 
"Nature  Spirits"  that  magicians  deal,  for  a  very 
large  portion  of  their  most  effective  work  is  due 
to  mesmeric  or  hypnotic  influence,  also  to  the  pro- 
jection of  thought-forms,  which  appear  as  definite 
on  the  mental  plane  as  do  ordinary  material  objects 
on  the  physical. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  consider  a  few  of  the 
methods  employed  by  the  ancient  Hebrew  Prophets 
when  engaged  in  their  benevolent  work  of  healing 
the  seriously  afflicted,  and  in  some  cases  raising  to 
life  again  the  seemingly  dead.  Concerning  the  ac- 
tual raising  of  the  dead,  we  know  nothing.  Bible 
narratives  only  inform  us  that  certain  people  de- 
clared that  others  had  actually  died  when  they  were 
so  far  beyond  the  reach  of  ordinary  methods  that 
they  certainly  would  have  died  very  shortly  had 
they  not  been  restored  by  the  power  of  God  work- 
ing through  the  prophets.  We  hear  a  great  deal  in 
these  days  about  Divine  Healing,  and  we  often  won- 
der whether  it  can  be  ever  justifiable  to  apply  so 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     243 

great  an  adjective  to  any  form  of  healing  in  par- 
ticular, seeing  that  we  have  no  right  whatever  to 
limit  our  idea  of  Divine  activity  to  those  particular 
modes  of  practice  which  we  personally  employ,  or 
of  which  we  specially  approve.  An  honorable  phy- 
sician who  conscientiously  administers  medicine  has 
quite  as  much  right  to  affirm  that  he  believes  it  to 
be  God's  will  that  outward  remedies  should  be  ad- 
ministered, as  any  Christian  Scientist  has  to  say 
that  a  certain  school  of  mental  practice  is  of  divine 
appointment.  It  is  just  at  this  point  that  Chris- 
tian Scientists  make  themselves  ridiculous  by  claim- 
ing everything  for  those  particular  methods  which 
they  as  a  denomination  endorse  and  adopt,  while 
they  discountenance  all  beside. 

It  is  quite  true  that  the  Jewish  religion,  as  well 
as  the  Christian,  can  reasonably  appeal  to  the  Scrip- 
tures in  support  of  the  plea  that  even  if  every  won- 
der of  healing  now  claimed  by  Christian  Scientists 
is  all  that  it  is  said  to  be,  there  are  no  miracles 
performed  in  this  century  any  greater  than  those  per- 
formed long  ago  in  ancient  Israel,  and  at  a  later 
period  by  Christian  apostles.  Elijah  and  Elisha  are 
two  of  the  greatest  prophets  mentioned  in  the  Old 
Testament  as  functioning  especially  in  the  role  of 
healers.  Both  of  these  mighty  men  are  said  to  have 
raised  to  life  again  a  widow's  son  who  was  pro- 
nounced dead,  and  both  of  them,  according  to  the 
record,  employed  what  we  might  call  in  these  days 
a  combination  of  mental,  spiritual,  and  magnetic 
methods.  Prophetic  doctrine  and  practice  do  much 
to  confirm  the  idea  that  God  works  through  all 
natural  instrumentalities,  but  as  man  possesses  far 


244    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

more  of  the  Divine  Spirit  than  does  any  sub-human 
creature,  human  abihty  far  transcends  any  curative 
virtue  which  we  may  find  in  vegetable  or  mineral. 
The  most  extreme  cases  of  suffering,  together  with 
the  severest  and  farthest  advanced  stages  of  fatal 
disease,  naturally  require  a  mode  of  treatment  far 
more  powerful  and  effective  than  ordinary  simpler 
cases;  therefore  it  was  always  believed  that  only 
the  greatest  among  the  prophets  were  able  to  heal 
leprosy  or  to  raise  to  life  those  who  appeared  dead, 
though  they  might  have  been  only  in  a  dying  con- 
dition. There  is  one  case  which  suggests  more  food 
for  thought,  perhaps,  than  any  other  in  connection 
with  Elisha's  ministry,  viz.,  the  case  of  Naaman  the 
Syrian  Captain,  who  was  directed  by  a  Hebrew 
maiden  who  waited  on  his  wife  to  the  great  prophet 
in  Israel,  who  is  said  to  have  received  him  at  first 
very  curtly  and  to  have  positively  refused  to  perform 
any  magical  acts,  no  matter  how  much  treasure 
Naaman  was  ready  to  heap  upon  him. 

This  story  brings  out  in  prominent  relief  the  op- 
position to  ceremonial  magic  entertained  by  the 
Jewish  Prophets  at  a  time  when  it  was  almost  uni- 
versally believed  that  sicknesses  were  caused  by  evil 
spirits  and  that  these  could  be  driven  out  by  en- 
chantments. Wherever  such  a  belief  is  entertained, 
man  is  usually  made  to  appear  a  puppet  in  the 
hands  of  unseen  forces,  frequently  malignant,  which 
can  be  driven  away  by  some  subtle  processes  per- 
formable  only  by  trained  exorcists.  This  theory  of 
suffering,  and  its  remedy,  has  the  very  great  moral 
disadvantage  of  implying  that  our  own  mode  of 
life  has  little  (if  anything)  to  do  with  our  general 


Ancient' Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     245 

health ;  a  doctrine  which  is  utterly  opposed  to  all 
the  salutary  teaching  of  the  Pentateuch,  which  de- 
votes a  large  amount  of  space  to  minute  directions 
concerning  methods  of  living  which,  if  duly  ob- 
served, prevent  diseases  even  more  effectually  than 
they  provide  remedies  for  those  which  may  have 
already  appeared  in  a  community.  From  the  stand- 
point of  sanitation  alone,  the  Mosaic  law  is  highly 
admirable,  and  ttiis  has  been  so  completely  proved 
many  times  in  Europe  during  Christian  centuries, 
that  one  of  the  charges  brought  against  the  Jews 
in  times  of  general  pestilence  was  that  they  prac- 
ticed unholy  magical  arts  which  enabled  them  to 
withstand  the  ravages  of  plagues  which  decimated 
surrounding  Gentile  populations.  The  real  cause 
of  this  surprising  immunity  was  a  strict  observance 
of  the  sanitary  laws  laid  down  in  the  Torah.  We 
are  now  witnessing  a  very  wholesome  revival  of 
popular  interest  in  sanitation;  few  (if  any)  physi- 
cians to-day  refusing  to  admit  that  if  we  live  clean 
and  wholesome  lives  we  need  not  suffer  as  com- 
munities from  Zymotic  and  Tuberculous  diseases. 

The  fresh  air  cure  for  consumption,  taken  in  con- 
nection with  general  cleanliness  and  a  simple  nutri- 
tious diet,  works  hand  in  hand  with  all  intelligent- 
mental  healing.  Whatever  elevates  the  mind  forti- 
fies the  body ;  whatever  depresses  the  mind,  weakens 
the  body;  and  in  like  manner  whatever  injures  the 
body  reacts  prejudicially  on  the  mind.  The  absurd 
and  blasphemous  idea  that  God  sends  sickness  (ex- 
cept in  the  very  restrictive  sense  that  we  bring  it 
upon  ourselves  when  we  act  in  opposition  to  some 
law  of  nature,  which  is  necessarily  an  outward  ex- 


246    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

pression  of  Divine  order),  receives  no  sanction  at 
the  hands  of  the  Bible,  though  many  ministers  of 
religion  have  told  God  in  their  prayers  that  He 
has  been  pleased  to  send  sickness  upon  members  of 
their  congregations,  whereas,  if  they  had  taken  the 
prophetic  attitude,  they  would  have  prayed  that  those 
who  were  afflicted  might  come  into  a  fuller  knowl- 
edge of  Divine  law  and  learn  to  harmonize  their 
lives  with  its  requirements.  When  Elisha  told 
Naaman  to  wash  seyen  times  in  Jordan,  so  that  he 
would  recover  from  leprosy,  he  greatly  insulted  his 
haughty  visitor,  who  became  very  angry,  and  indig- 
nantly refused  to  pay  attention  to  so  impertinent  a 
direction;  but  after  Naaman  had  returned  home, 
and  found  his  disease  making  still  further  progress, 
h^  gradually  changed  his  mental  attitude,  and,  re- 
turning to  Elisha,  expressed  willingness  to  comply^ 
with  his  directions.  Bathing  seven  times  in  Jordan 
signifies  reforming  his  own  life,  not  simply  or  chiefly 
taking  a  number  of  baths  in  a  sacred  stream. 

The  vital  point  in  the  narrative  is  where  the 
prophet  tells  his  patient  that  he  must  do  something 
for  himself,  and  not  expect  the  doctor  to.  do  every- 
thing for  him.  This  is  a  very  bold  position  to  take 
when  one  is  dealing  with  Army  officers  or  any  other 
people  of  distinction,  who  are  accustomed  to  give 
orders  and  receive  homage  rather  than  obey  the 
directions  of  others.  Probably  no  one  short  of  a 
prophet  would  have  sufficient  bravery  to  speak  his 
mind  quite  plainly  to  a  very  wealthy  patient  occupy- 
ing a  singularly  high  position  in  society.  There  are 
no  incurable  diseases,  per  se,  but  there  are  many  dis- 
orders which  are  seemingly  incurable  because  we 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     247 

are  not  in  possession  of  the  necessary  means  for 
their  vanquishment.  The  law  regulating  the  isola- 
tion of  lepers  may  be  regarded  as  a  useful  and  hu- 
mane one,  considering  the  fact  that  where  no  remedy 
is  at  hand  it  is  not  kindness  to  the  sufferers,  but 
injustice  to  the  populace,  to  permit  persons  with 
infectious  diseases  to  mingle  freely  with  people  in 
general  who  may  be  susceptible  to  contagion.  Pre- 
cautionary measures  are,  of  course,  inferior  to  pro- 
phetic power  to  heal,  but  we  do  not  attain  unto 
higher  powers  or  greater  knowledge  by  foolishly 
disregarding  useful  sanitary  regulations.  There  are 
probably  some  people  to-day  who  can  quite  safely 
mingle  with  lepers,  and  there  are  certainly  a  few 
who  know  of  a  cure  for  leprosy;  and  it  is  not  too 
much  to  hope  that  in  the  near  future  knowledge 
of  how  to  heal  disorders  long  regarded  incurable 
will  have  become  common  mental  property.  When 
this  happy  state  of  things  has  come  permanently 
to  exist,  we  may  rest  assured  that  the  teaching 
given  by  true  doctors,  who  are  far  removed  from 
pharmacists,  will  be  of  such  a  character  that  the 
most  disagreeable  diseases  of  which  people 'are  now 
most  afraid  will  soon  entirely  cease,  and  their  very 
names  be  blotted  from  our  dictionaries. 

Though  in  a  very  large  majority  of  instances  we 
may  fairly  attribute  so-called  magical  cures  of  dis- 
ease to  faith  and  imagination  in  the  patient — imagi- 
nation being  a  therapeutic  agent  of  immense  power 
and  value — it  by  no  means  necessarily  follows  that 
there  is  no  value  whatever  in  magical  ceremonials 
which  are  conducted  with  earnest  confidence  by  dis- 
ciplined magicians,  and  there  is  yet  another  aspect 


248     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

of  the  subject  which  must  not  be  overlooked,  viz., 
the  actual  efficacy,  on  the  psychical  as  well  as  on 
the  physical  plane,  of  certain  medicaments  employed 
in  occult  medical  arts.  Dr.  Franz  Hartmann,  in  a 
very  instructive  treatise  on  this  question,  has  shown 
how  different  orders  of  practitioners  in  the  Middle 
Ages  had  recourse  to  knowledge  of  the  potencies 
of  many  plants  and  herbs  not  included  in  the  com- 
mon pharmacopoeia. 

The  general  doctrine  of  Occultists  of  all  schools 
being  to  the  effect  that  there  are  various  planes  of 
Nature,  unseen  as  well  as  seen,  and  that  we  can 
learn  how  to  render  the  unseen  as  well  as  the  seen 
serviceable  to  us — a  plant  or  herb  in  the  eyes  of  an 
Occultist  is  an  existence  on  some  other  plane,  in 
addition  to  the  physical — therefore  it  can  be  reason- 
ably claimed  that  occult  medication  is  applicable  to 
the  psychical  as  well  as  to  the  physical  side  of  human 
necessity.  Some  of  the  grosser  means  employed 
in  Europe  a  few  centuries  ago  may  appear  dis- 
gusting, as  well  as  stupid,  from  the  standpoint  of 
fastidious  sentiment,  but  we  cannot  boast  of  a  medi- 
cal system  to-day  entirely  free  from  extremely  dis- 
agreeable practises.  If  we  take  exception  to  some  of 
these,  we  are  instantly  told  by  their  advocates  that 
a  doctor's  work  is  to  strive  to  the  utmost  to  deliver 
his  patient  from  the  clutch  of  disease;  therefore, 
we  cannot  be  fastidious  where  life  and  death  may 
be  involved ;  and  this  position  is  fundamentally  so 
sound  that  it  is  well-nigh  indisputable.  We  can, 
however,  rai$e  our  protest  against  lymphs,  serums, 
etc.,  which  we  know  to  be  foul  and  pernicious,  and 
especially  against  such  as  can  only  be  obtained  at 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     249 

the  expense  of  great  cruelty,  which  is  never  toler- 
ated, whether  practised  on  man  or  beast,  by  any 
Occultist  of  the  beneficent  type.  It  is  highly  note- 
worthy that  the  most  vigorous  protests  against  vivi- 
section proceed  from  students  of  Occultism  who 
have  plunged  somewhat  deeply  into  the  abyss  of 
mystery  which  has  for  ages  enshrouded  all  magical 
ceremonial. 

Dr.  Anna  Kings  ford  and  Edward  Maitland,  who 
gave  us  *'The  Perfect  Way,"  were  among  the  most 
vehement  denouncers  of  all  experiments  on  living 
animals;  and  the  Theosophical  Society,  as  a  body, 
is  at  present  definitely  active  in  the  interests  of  the 
suppression  of  vivisection,  not  only  out  of  regard 
for  the  sufferings  of  animals,  but  also  in  the  in- 
terests of  humanity,  whose  cause  can  never  be  truly 
served  by  outraging  humane  sentiments  which,  in 
addition  to  cultivating  much  that  is  sweet  and  beau- 
tiful in  our  dispositions,  also  serve  the  purpose  of 
safeguarding  us  on  unseen  planes  of  Nature.  It 
may  prove  interesting  and  instructive  to  briefly  out- 
line a  few  of  the  prominent  methods  in  vogue  among 
magicians,  so  far  as  they  have  been  publicly  re- 
corded, that  we  may  compare  them  with  some  of 
the  therapeutic  measures  accounted  valid  to-day. 
In  comparatively  recent  times  no  name  stands  out 
more  conspicuously  in  the  annals  of  magical  heal- 
ing than  that  of  Theophrastus  Paracelsus,  who 
founded  a  very  remarkable  school  in  which  Mag- 
netism was  extolled  as  the  mighty  agent  through 
which  healing  is  to  be  accomplished.  We  are  so 
thoroughly  used  to  the  term  "magnetic  healing,"  and 
it  is  often  so  vague  as  well  as  comprehensive,  that  it 


2^0     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

seldom  conveys  any  very  clear  idea  of  claims  made 
or  methods  employed  beyond  the  commonly  accepted 
idea  that  magnetizers  put  their  hands  on  their  pa- 
tients and  claim  that  some  efficacious  emanation  is 
transferred  from  one  body  to  another.  Paracelsus, 
being  a  man  of  profound  learning  and  deep  in- 
sight into  the  hidden  realms  of  Nature,  would  nat- 
urally give  us  views  on  magnetic  healing  very  dif- 
ferent from  those  expressed  by  comparatively  illit- 
erate people  who  often  accomplish  much  good  with- 
out any  scientific  understanding  of  how  they  do  it. 
Paracelsus  taught  a  doctrine,  with  certain  modifica- 
tions of  his  own,  which  had  been  handed  on  from 
age  to  age  from  the  remotest  period  of  which  we 
have  any  records,  and  it  was  to  his  combined  knowl- 
edge and  skill  that  he  owed  his  marvellous  abilities 
as  wonder-worker  as  well  as  teacher. 

We  can  all  teach  theoretically  what  we  have  in- 
tellectually grasped,  but  to  make  practical  demon- 
strations of  our  knowledge  requires  much  more  than 
mental  information ;  thus  it  has  always  been  proven 
th^t  a  peculiar  mode  of  life  must  be  followed  by 
those  who  would  successfully  officiate  as  demonstra- 
tors of  healing  by  magnetic  means,  for  in  magnetic 
treatment  the  individuality  aild  personality  of  the 
operator  must  be  involved  to  a  much  greater  ex- 
tent than  in  a  conventional  practise  of  medicine 
where  the  written  prescription  is  regarded  as  a  fac- 
tor of  prime  importance.  But  though  the  adminis- 
tration of  compounded  medicine  constitutes  a  large 
part  of  accepted  medical  practice,  it  is  well  known, 
and  freely  admitted  throughout  the  medical  profes- 
sion, that  the  personality  of  the  doctor  weighs  very 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     251 

heavily  in  the  scale  of  his  failure  or  success,  and  as 
a  personality  which  some  people  may  think  charming 
is  distasteful  to  others,  and  magnetic  emanations 
which  quiet  some  sufferers  disturb  others,  uniform 
success  in  all  cases  judged  similar  from  symptoms, 
rarely  if  ever  falls  to  the  lot  of  any  practitioner. 
Occultists  teach  that  we  have  peculiarities  of  inner 
as  well  as  of  outer  organizations  which  need  to  be 
ministered  to  in  a  specific  manner,  and  because  the 
broad  term  magnetism  is  often  employed  to  cover 
the  psychic  effluence  of  a  mental  as  well  as  physical 
practitioner,  such  a  saying  as  I  like,  or  I  do  not  like, 
that  person's  magnetism,  is  heard  frequently  in 
circles  where  the  scientific  aspects  of  the  question  are 
totally  unknown.  The  system  of  Paracelsus  has 
sometimes  been  denominated  "mineral,"  because  he 
taught  that  the  mineral  as  well  as  the  vegetable  and 
animal  kingdoms  contains  a  subtle  elixir  of  life 
which  can  be  scientifically  distilled  when  one  is  suf- 
ficienly  acquainted  with  magical  formulas. 

Had  Paracelsus  lived  at  such  a  time  as  the  present, 
he  would  probably  have  had  much  less  recourse  to 
a  terminology  which  has  been  called  "mystical  jar- 
gon," as  this  hieroglyphic  means  of  communication 
between  teachers  and  pupils,  and  between  fellow  ini- 
tiates, was  not  intended  only  to  preserve  secrets  from 
the  "profane,"  but  was  very  largely  employed  as  a 
necessary  precaution  in  times  when  every  one  sus- 
pected of  practising,  magic  was  in  serious  danger. 
With  a  key  to  interpretation  of  mysterious  symbols, 
one  can  readily  uncover  a  good  deal  of  the  teach- 
ing of  Paracelsus,  but  his  entire  body  of  doctrine 
is  written  in  a  double  cipher,  so  that  it  has  inten- 


252     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

tionally  two  distinct  but  closely  related  meanings, 
one  pertaining  to  the  literal  practise  of  the  healing 
art,  the  other  to  the  demonstration  of  arcane  teach- 
ing concerning  the  work  of  transmutation,  which 
has,  in  its  turn  again,  two  distinct  significations. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Paracelsus  was  natur- 
ally quite  highly  gifted,  and  that  he  also  used  his 
talents  with  a  very  special  view  to  rescuing  the  prac- 
tise of  medicine  from  the  abject  degeneracy  into 
which  it  had  fallen  in  his  day,  when  the  disciples 
of  Galen  spent  most  of  their  time  in  foolish  contro- 
versy and  dispute,  and  accomplished  very  little  in 
the  way  of  healing. 

The  claim  of  Paracelsus  was  that  he  went  direct 
to  Nature,  repudiating  all  the  teachings  of  the 
schools  which  in  his  day  were  very  nearly  worth- 
less. He  had  studied  Metallurgy,  and  had  become 
a  mining  expert;  he  travelled  widely,  and  gathered 
information  wherever  he  went,  all  of  which  he 
turned  to  excellent  account.  His  biographers  say 
of  him  that  he  learned  of  all  kinds  of  people,  and 
was  never  too  proud  to  accept  knowledge  from  even 
the  very  humblest.  When  he  had  already  acquired 
great  fame  as  a  healer  of  wounds,  as  well  as  pos- 
sessor of  an  immense  amount  of  miscellaneous  in- 
formation, he  became  a  lecturer  in  the  University 
of  Basle,  to  which  the  most  celebrated  men  were 
attracted  from  all  over  Europe.  He  manifested  in 
his  teachingsr  great  veneration  for  Hippocrates,  who 
had  pursued  the  very  method  by  which  he  himself 
sought  truth.  He  declared  that  apothecaries  were 
opposed  to  him  because  he  would  not  endorse  their 
charlatanry ;  his  own  recipes  were  very  simple,  never 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     253 

consisting  of  from  forty  to  sixty  ingredients,  as  did 
those  of  the  Galenic  doctors.  In  an  essay  on  the 
power  of  the  magnet,  he  says:  '*The  magnet  has 
long  lain  before  all  eyes,  and  no  one  has  ever 
thought  whether  it  was  of  any  further  use  or  pos- 
sessed any  other  property  than  that  of  attracting 
iron.  Sordid  doctors  complain  that  I  will  not  fol- 
low the  ancients,  but  in  what  should  I  follow  them? 
All  that  they  have  said  of  the  magnet  amounts  to 
nothing.  Place  what  I  have  said  of  it  in  the  balance, 
and  judge.  Had  I  blindly  followed  others,  and  not 
myself  made  experiments,  I  should  know  no  more 
than  what  every  peasant  sees,  that  a  magnet  attracts 
iron.  A  wise  man  must  inquire  for  himself,  and  it  is 
thus  I  have  discovered  that  the  magnet,  besides  this 
obvious  power  of  attracting  iron,  possesses  another 
and  concealed  power. 

*'In  sickness,  you  must  lay  the  magnet  in  the 
center  from  which  the  sickness  proceeds.  The  mag- 
net has  two  poles,  one  attracting,  one  repelling.  It 
is  not  a  matter  of  indifference  to  which  of  these 
poles  a  man  applies.  In  falling  sickness  and  every 
kind  of  epilepsy,  where  the  attack  affects  particularly 
the  head,  it  is  proper  to  lay  four  magnets  on  the 
lower  part  of  the  body  with  the  attracting  pole 
turned  upward,  and  only  one  on  the  head  with  the 
reflecting  pole  downward,  and  then  you  bring  other 
means  to  their  aid."  Paracelsus  considered  that 
more  valuable  information  was  condensed  in  these 
few  paragraphs  than  was  spread  over  all  the  ver- 
bose statements  of  the  ordinary  physicians  of  his 
time. 

Paracelsus  was  also  an  astrologer,  and  laid  great 


254     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

stress  on  Siderial  magnetism,  which  he  regarded 
as  both  spiritual  and  physical.  In  this  he  agreed 
substantially  with  the  renowned  Chaldeans  of  old, 
who  attributed  the  influence  of  the  planets  to  their 
spiritual  energy  far  more  than  to  their  physical 
movements.  He  has  much  to  say  concerning  "Mag- 
nes  Microcosmi,"  the  little  world  which  he  regards 
as  the  universe  in  minimum.  Man,  he  teaches,  con- 
tains the  four  great  elements,  fire,  air,  water  and 
earth,  and  must  be  nourished  by  them,  not  only 
palpably  through  the  stomach,  but  also  imperceptibly 
through  the  magnetic  force  resident  in  all  nature,* 
from  which  every  individual  draws  specific  nourish- 
ment. He  has  also  much  to  say  concerning  our  recip- 
rocal relations  with  the  Sun  and  the  various  planets, 
maintaining  that  they  receive  from  us  even  as  we 
receive  from  them.  His  celebrated  ''Magisterium 
Magnetis"  is  a  tincture  extracted  from  the  magnet 
which  he  declares  is  a  specific  capable  of  drawing 
out  every  variety  of  diseases  from  the  human  body. 
He  even  went  so  far  as  to  claim  that  this  mysterious 
tincture  communicated  its  properties  to  all  objects 
\  near  it,  and  that  it  did  not  only  attract  iron,  but 
also  other  bodies  of  various  kinds. 

Paracelsus  compares  the  human  body  to  wood,  and 
the  life  within  it  to  fire.  He  calls  magic  the  philo- 
sophy of  Alchemy.  He  declares  that  a  certain  at- 
tractive power  is  born  with  all  men,  and  through 
this  power  we  become  capable  of  continually  at- 
tracting into  our  bodies  the  properties  of  the  ele- 
ments. In  close  harmony  with  this  idea,  he  ex- 
plains the  cause  and  method  of  infection,  which  he 
rightly  considers  to  apply  to  the  contagion  of  health 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations^    255 

as  well  as  disease,  a  claim  which  lies  at  the  root  of 
all  modern  as  well  as  ancient  magnetic  treatment. 
This  remarkable  man  declared  that  though  he 
founded  his  doctrine  on  his  own  experience,  he  dis- 
covered it  to  be  in  very  close  accord  with  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Bible,  which  he  had  studied  so  fully  that 
he  knew  almost  the  entire  Book  by  rote.  It  cer- 
tainly does  seem  remarkable  that  people  who  profess 
to  credit  as  genuine  the  wonderful  accounts  of  mag- 
netic healing,  which  are  scattered  all  over  the  Bible, 
should  take  exception  to  the  laying  on  of  hands 
and  other  simple  magnetic  methods  as  means  of 
cure,  though  it  may  be  argued  that  the  mineral  mag- 
net is  not  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures  in  connection 
with  the  work  of  healing  accomplished  by  either 
Jewish  prophets  or  Christian  apostles.  The  spirit 
of  the  elements,  claims  Paracelsus,  rules  the  lower 
propensities  of  man,  but  as  there  is  in  reality  only 
one  life,  a  common  essence  pervades  all  forms  of 
existence.  All  created  things  he  denominates  letters 
and  books,  describing  human  origin  and  descent. 
The  human  body  is,  according  to  his  system,  a  per- 
fect microcosm  which  man  himself  must  learn  to 
completely  control,  for  while  the  body  comes  from 
the  earth,  the  spirit  comes  from  a  higher  world.  Con- 
cerning divination,  he  has  much  to  say,  especially 
with  regard  to  the  Astral  body,  which  he  clearly 
distinguishes  from  the  elementary  body  which  rests 
during  sleep,  while  the  Astral  continues  active.  In 
this  Mediaeval  teaching  we  find  the  word  "astral 
directly  derived  from  the  stars,  from  which  it  is 
said  to  emanate,  and  among  which  it  is  capable  of 
travelling.     Animals  as  well  as  men  possess  Astral 


256    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

bodies,  and  are  therefore  capable  of  experiencing 
presentiments.  Paracelsus  wrote  a  curious  book  on 
''Fools,"  whom  he  declares  all  contain  some  measure 
of  wisdom,  which  occasionally  breaks  forth  like  sun- 
shine through  a  fog.  This  comparison  agrees  well 
with  many  present-day  statements  concerning  the 
human  aura,  which  is  really  an  atmosphere  or  photo- 
sphere surrounding  every  individual,  bright  and 
luminous  in  the  case  of  highly  developed  natures, 
dark  and  murky  in  cases  where  little  progress  above 
animality  has  been  made.  We  find  in  the  teachings 
of  Paracelsus  a  firm  belief  expressed  in  the  efficacy 
of  enchantments,  but  while  he  believes  in  the  power 
of  curses  as  well  as  of  blessings,  he  makes  it  clear 
to  students  that  it  is  only  the  weak,  the  foolish  and 
the  vicious  who  can  be  seriously  affected  by  any 
sort  of  malediction,  while  blessings  can  be  fully  re- 
ceived by  the  most  highly  cultured  and  spiritually  ad- 
vanced members  of  the  human  race.  With  regard 
fo  the  highest  kind  of  magic,  he  says  that  to  prac- 
tice it  requires  a  powerful  imagination,  in  addition 
to  firm  faith;  no  ceremonies  are  really  necessary, 
and  they  are  usually  nothing  but  humbug.  ''The 
human  spirit  is  so  great  a  thing  that  no  man  can 
express  it;  as  God  is  eternal  and  unchangeable,  so 
also  is  the  mind  of  man.  If  we  rightly  understood 
this  mind,  nothing  would  be  impossible  to  us. 
Imagination  is  invigorated  and  perfected  through 
faith ;  every  doubt  seriously  hinders  a  magical  opera- 
tion, for  it  is  faith  that  establishes  the  will.  Be- 
cause men  do  not  perfectly  imagine  and  believe, 
their  arts  are  uncertain  while  they  might  be  per- 
fectly certain." 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     257 

Another  very  wonderful  man — one  of  the 
worthiest  and  ablest  of  the  successors  of  Paracelsus 
— was  Baptista  Von  Helmont,  who,  on  account  of 
his  vast  knowledge,  acute  judgment,  and  amazing 
penetration,  created  a  new  epoch  in  medicine.  In 
the  history  of  magnetism  he  takes  the  very  first 
rank,  since  he  brought  into  this  dark  field  a  clearer 
light  than  anyone  before  or  since  has  done.  Deleuze, 
in  his  famous  work  on  "Animal  Magnetism,"  speaks 
of  Helmont  in  terms  of  unstinted  praise,  and  gives 
a  great  deal  of  interesting  information  concerning 
his  life  and  methods.  He  was  the  first  to  give  the 
name  of  gas  to  aerial  fluids.  In  Ennemoser's  ''His- 
tory of  Magic,"  we  are  told  that  this  good  and  great 
man  had  often  to  defend  his  doctrine  and  practice 
against  the  stupid  charge  that  its  origin  was  diaboli- 
cal, and  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  learned  and  in- 
telligent of  his  day,  his  logical  rebuttals  proved 
quite  convincing,  though  the  ignorant  and  fanatical 
still  clung  to  that  senseless  and  debasing  delusion. 

Concerning  Magnetism  he  says  that  it  is  of  a 
heavenly  nature  and  unrestrained  by  the  boundaries 
of  space.  Whoever,  therefore,  avails  himself  of 
magnetic  means,  undertakes  a  God-pleasing  business. 
Regarding  the  power  of  suggestion,  he  has  left 
many  worthy  sayings  on  record,  proving  that  our 
modern  methods  were  well  known  and  largely  prac- 
tised by  Alchemistical  Philosophers,  who  in  some 
notable  instances  seem  to  have  attributed  all  efficacy 
to.  suggestion,  though  incantations  and  other  cere- 
monies were  often  used ;  in  this  they  forestalled  the 
conclusions  of  many  learned  psychologists  of  to-day. 
The  power  of  evil  is  very  much  restricted  in  the 


258     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

doctrine  of  Helmont,  who  by  no  means  denies  it 
in  toto,  but  distinctly  shows  how  evil  (i.  e.,  dis- 
orderly) influences  can  be  operative  only  on  the 
surface  of  existence,  while  whatever  is  good  (i.  e., 
orderly)  possesses  practically  unlimited  power,  be- 
cause it  is  working  with  (not  against)  the  great  pur- 
pose of  the  imi verse.  The  use  of  herbs  entered 
largely  into  Helmont's  practise,  and  to  many  vege- 
table products  he  assigns  magical  properties;  as, 
for  instance,  when  he  says  that  if  you  hold  a  cer- 
tain extraordinary  herb  crushed  in  your  hand,  and 
at  the  same  time  hold  the  hand  of  another  person, 
he  or  she  will  retain  a  great  liking  for  you  for 
at  least  several  days.  A  singular  story  is  told  by 
this  acutely  observant  man  of  a  sensitive  woman, 
who  invariably  suffered  an  attack  of  gout  if  she 
occupied  a  seat  on  which  a  brother  of  hers  used 
to  sit  regularly  five  years  previously ;  this  man  had 
suffered  acutely  from  the  distressing  malady.  Per- 
sons of  blunt  and  irresponsive  temperament  may 
readily  laugh  at  such  tales,  because  they  have  no 
experiences  of  their  own  calculated  to  confirm  them, 
but  highly  sensitive  natures  know  that  such  facts 
do  occur,  and  it  is  quite  in  accord  with  the  best 
and  wisest  sanitary  regulations  of  our  day  to  ad- 
mit the  reality  of  such  phenomena  sufficiently  to 
induce  us  to  cremate  all  articles  which  have  been 
long  associated  with  chronic  invalidism  as  well  as 
with  avowedly  infectious  maladies. 

Helmont,  in  common  with  all  magicians,  does  not 
only  acknowledge  the  power  of  men  over  animals, 
he  also  teaches  the  influence  exerted  by  animals  over 
all  ordinary  men,  and  he  tells  many  a  weird  tale 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     259 

of  animal  fascination,  and  cites  some  of  his  own 
experiences  in  support  of  his  contention.  Fascina- 
tion is  a  very  powerful  weapon  with  which  animals 
are  equipped,  and  without  it  in  the  struggle  for 
existence  many  would  have  been  swept  away  which 
now  exist  and  multiply.  Psychometry  is  now  con- 
firming many  of  Helmont's  narratives,  and  as  it  cer- 
tainly seems  that  the  average  sensitiveness  of  civil- 
ized humanity  is  palpably  increasing,  we  may  soon 
need  to  know  quite  a  great  deal  of  mystical  philo- 
sophy to  enable  us  to  enjoy  good  results  of  this  in- 
creasing sensibility,  instead  of  being  embarrassed 
and  debilitated  thereby.  A  very  beautiful  summary 
of  Helmont's  truly  sublime  philosophy  we  present 
in  the  following  quotation :  "When  God  created  the 
human  soul,  He  imparted  to  her  essential  and  orig- 
inal knowledge.  The  soul  is  the  mirror  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  stands  in  relationship  to  all  living  things. 
She  is  illuminated  by  an  inward  light ;  but  the  tem- 
pest of  passions,  the  multitude  of  sensual  impres- 
sions, the  dissipations,  darken" this  light,  whose  glory 
only  diffuses  itself  when  it  burns  alone,  and  all  is 
peace  and  harmony  within  us.  When  we  know  our- 
selves to  be  separated  from  all  outward  influences, 
and  desire  only  to  be  guided  by  this  universal  light, 
then  only  do  we  find  in  ourselves  pure  and  certain 
knowledge.  In  this  state  of  concentration,  the  soul 
analyses  all  objects  on  which  her  attention  rests. 
She  can  unite  herself  with  them,  penetrate  through 
their  substance,  penetrating  even  to  God  Himself, 
and  feeling  Him  in  the  most  important  truths."  An- 
other great  statement  of  this  wonderful  man  reads 
thus :  "The  physician  chosen  of  God  is  accompanied 


26o     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

by  many  signs  and  wonders  for  the  schools.  He 
will  give  the  honor  to  God,  as  he  employs  his  gifts 
to  assuaging  the  sufferings  of  his  neighbor.  Com- 
passion will  be  his  guide.  His  heart  will  possess 
truth  and  his  intellect  science.  Love  will  be  his  sis- 
ter; and  the  truth  of  the  Lord  will  illumine  his 
path.  He  will  invoke  the  grace  of  God,  and  he  will 
not  be  overcome  by  the  desire  of  gain.  For  the 
Lord  is  rich  and  bountiful,  and  pays  hundredfold  in 
heaped  measure.  He  will  make  his  labor  fruitful, 
and  he  will  clothe  his  hands  with  blessings.  He  will 
fill  his  mouth  with  comfort,  and  His  word  will  be  a 
trumpet  before  which  diseases  will  fly.  His  foot- 
steps will  bring  prosperity,  and  sickness  will  flee 
before  his  face,  as  snow  melts  in  a  summer  morn. 
Health  will  follow  him.  These  are  the  testimonies 
of  the  Lord  to  those  healers  whom  He  has  chosen — 
this  is  the  blessedness  of  those  who  pursue  the  way 
of  kindness;  and  the  Holy  Spirit  will,  moreover, 
enlighten  them  as  the  Comforter." 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

JEANNE  d'aRC,   the   maid  OF  ORIvEANS. 

Among  the  most  remarkable  seeresses  known  to 
modern  Europe,  the  name  of  the  famous  Maid  of 
Orleans  stands  eminently  conspicuous,  particularly 
when  we  take  into  account  the  period  in  which  she 
lived  and  the  people  among  whom  she  moved.  Five 
hundred  years  or  less  ago,  woman's  position  in 
Europe  was  widely  different  from  what  it  is  now; 
thus  it  was  far  more  remarkable  that  a  simple  peas- 
ant girl  could  successfully  head  the  French  army 
during  the  fifteenth  century  than  that  such  a  phe- 
nomenon might  occur  to-day.  From  whatever 
standpoint  we  approach  Jeanne's  history,  we  cannot 
well  call  it  other  than  miraculous,  and  as  a  psycho- 
logical study  it  far  outdistances  in  general  import- 
ance all  considerations  pertaining  to  the  immediate 
cause  which  she  espoused  or  the  particular  victories 
she  accomplished. 

Domremy,  her  birthplace,  was  a  romantic  village 
on  the  border  between  France  and  Prussia,  and 
many  were  the  legends  which  clustered  thickly 
around  it  regarding  apparitions  of  saints  and  angels 
which  gathered  about  the  spot.  A  particularly  ro- 
mantic story  concerned  a  famous  tree  in  the  village, 
which  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  trysting-place 
between  spirits  and  mortals,  and  it  was  under  its 

261 


262     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

shade  that  the  simple  maiden  first  heard  mysterious 
voices  and  became  imbued  with  the  conviction  that 
she  had  a  mighty  mission  to  fulfil  under  celestial 
direction.     S.   Margaret  and  S.   Catherine,  patron 

saints  of  Domremy,  are  said  to  have  appeared  to 
her  when  she  was  a  mere  child,  and  gradually  un- 
folded to  her  the  overwhelming  tidings  that  she 
^must  place  herself  at  the  head  of  the  French  army 
and  secure  the  coronation  of  the  Dauphin  after 
she  had  routed  the  English  troops,  which  were  then 
largely  occupying  her  native  country. 

We  often  hear  it  said  in  these  days  that  women 
cannot  carry  arms,  and  therefore  have  properly  no 
right  of  suffrage ;  but  this  assertion  was  completely 
refuted  nearly  five  hundred  years  ago,  when  an 
innocent  maiden  accomplished,  as  a  general,  what 
no  man  among  her  countrymen  seemed  able  to 
achieve.  The  story  of  the  Maid  of  Orleans  settles 
the  sex  question  at  its  very  outset  by  demonstrating 
that  individual  ability  is  the  only  passport  to  cer- 
tain victory,  and  we  can  never  tell  when  genius 
will  appear  clothed  in  male  or  in  female  habiliments. 
Sometimes  a  youth,  at  other  times  a  maiden,  will 
be  raised  up  to  accomplish  daring  deeds  that  none 
but  the  greatest  of  heroes  can  undertake  successfully, 
and  we  never  know  whether  such  genius  is  likely 
to  rise  from  the  ranks  of  nobility  or  peasantry;  but 
when  it  does  appear,  it  carries  all  before  it  like  some 
mighty  cyclone  against  which  all  opposition  must 
inevitably  prove  fruitless.  It  is  unquestionably  not 
the  ordinary  normal  vocation  of  a  woman  to  become 
a  soldier,  and  warfare  itself  may  become  defunct 
much  sooner  than  most  of  us  suppose ;  but  when  the 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     263 

times  required  an  intrepid  military  commander  to 
save  a  land  from  foreign  dominance,  it  came  to  pass 
that  the  unseen  powers  which  govern  mortal  des- 
tinies did  at  least  on  one  highly  memorable  occa- 
sion raise  up  an  untutored  maiden  to  wave  the 
banner  and  carry  the  sword  successfully  on  the 
field  of  martial  conquest.  The  many  difficulties 
which  Jeanne  had  to  encounter  were  so  formidable 
and  well-nigh  insuperable  that  they  might  easily  have 
daunted  the  courage  of  even  a  seasoned  warrior ;  but 
the  innocent  child,  with  unshakable  confidence  in 
her  Heaven-directed  mission,  brushed  all  these  ob- 
stacles aside  with  the  power  of  that  unflinching 
faith  v/hich  does  indeed,  figuratively  speaking,  re- 
move mountains.  Though  her  mother,  a  very  spirit- 
ually-minded woman,  readily  listened  to  the  maid- 
en's thrilling  accounts  of  angelic  interviews,  her 
father,  even  though  he  may  not  have  entirely  dis- 
credited them,  was  so  shocked  at  the  idea  of  his 
daughter  heading  an  army  that  he  made  no  secret 
of  his  sentiment  tha^t  he  would  rather  see  her 
drowned  than  embark  on  so  utterly  improper  an 
undertaking.  But  an  uncle  favored  her  enterprise, 
and  under  his  guardianship  she  set  forth  on  the 
arduous  and  perilous  career  which  she  was  fully  con- 
vinced could  end  in  no  other  way  than  gloriously; 
for  not  only  did  she  believe  that  two  saints  were 
promptting  her;  she  felt  that  the  mighty  archangel 
Michael  was  her  chief  inspirer,  and  w-ith  this  con- 
viction to  buoy  her  spirits,  her  courage  never  fal- 
tered even  in  the  face  of  the  most  determined  oppo- 
sition which  she  encountered  from  ecclesiastical  dig- 
nitaries as  well  as  from  the  secular  authority.    The 


264     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

story  of  her  movement  from  place  to  place,  until  she 
finally  reached  the  Dauphin,  and  eventually  secured 
his  coronation  at  Rheims,  reads  like  a  fairy  tale,  a 
work  of  fiction  almost  too  highly  colored  to  take 
rank  with  serious  novels.  But  we  are  dealing  with 
actual  history,  not  with  sensational  romance,  and 
here  indeed  is  demonstrated  the  truthfulness  of  the 
long-celebrated  adage :  "Truth  is  stranger  than  fic- 
tion." 

The  clairvoyance  of  the  Maid  of  Orleans  was  tri- 
umphantly demonstrated  on  the  occasion  of  her  first 
encounter  with  the  man  whom  her  bravery  was  to 
elevate  to  the  throne,  for  though  he  had  completely 
disguised  himself,  and  placed  a  substitute  in  his  ac- 
customed place,  this  ruse  proved  entirely  ineffec- 
tual.   The  Dauphin,  who  was  a  very  impressionable 
man,  became  greatly  interested  in  Jeanne's  mission, 
and  soon  became  willing  to  render  her  the  aid  she 
needed  to  equip  an  army.    One  of  the  most  remark- 
able incidents  in  the  Maid's  career  was  her  extraor- 
dinary  discipline,    which    manifested    itself    imme- 
diately in  the  improved  conduct  of  the  soldiers  and 
in  the  amazing  courage  with  which  she  inspired  all 
under  her  command.     Being  herself  of  a  highly  re- 
ligious nature,  and  deeming  it  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance that  religious  rites  should  be  faithfully  ob- 
served,  she   readily  induced  the  army  to  pay  re- 
newed attention  to  their  long-neglected  devotions, 
and  she  soon  succeeded  in  inspiring  a  demoralized 
body  of  men  with  real  reverence  for  all  the  virtues 
she  so  highly  exemplified  in  her  own  heroic  person. 
There  is  a  marvellous  contagion  in  perfect  trust  and 
quenchless  bravery,  and  from  whatever  viewpoint 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     265 

we  may  regard  the  story  of  visions  and  voices  from 
the  unseen  world,  we  must  be  ignorant  indeed  of 
the  first  principles  of  psychology  if  we  fail  to  per- 
ceive how  mighty  an  effect  on  others  one's  own 
indomitable  courage  can  exert.  Whether  the  com- 
mander be  Alexander,  Csesar,  Napoleon,  Wellington, 
Washington,  or  the  Maid  of  Orleans,  no  army  has 
ever  proved  continuously  successful  except  when 
headed  by  some  intrepid  general  whose  own  con- 
viction was  unflinching  that  victory  must  surely  wait 
upon  obedience  to  his  (or  her)  command.  It  seems 
incredible  that  Joan  of  Arc  could  have  accomplished 
even  the  simple  leadership  of  a  battalion  had  she 
not  been  able  to  impress  those  under  her  with  some- 
thing of  her  own  confidence  in  Heavenly  guidance, 
for  an  immature  maiden  at  the  head  of  a  regiment 
of  soldiers  is  a  spectacle  so  grotesque,  when  viewed 
from  any  ordinary  standpoint,  as  to  suggest  a  farce 
rather  than  a  serious  battle.  Doubtless  the  charm 
of  her  personality  had  something  to  do  with  her 
successes,  but  we  must  keep  steadily  in  mind  that 
here  was  no  voluptuous  woman  appealing  to  the  ad- 
miration of  beauty-loving  men,  but  a  saintly  virgin 
whose  especial  charm  consisted  in  her  supreme  de- 
votion to  spiritual  ideals,  he,r  confidence  in  celestial 
prompters  and  her  unflinching  determination  to  serve 
her  country  at  all  hazard,  guided  as  she  believed  by 
the  very  finger  of  the  Almighty.  It  seems  from  all 
histories  that  a  certain  magical  charm  was  exerted 
by  her  banner,  the  very  sight  of  which  nerved  her 
troops  to  daring,  as  they  had  accepted  the  sugges- 
tion that  that  symbol  was  a  token  of  Heaven's  ap- 
proval of  their  march.    A  very  noteworthy  incident 


266     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

in  this  astounding  record  is  the  well-attested  fact 
that  when  the  Maid  followed  implicitly  directions 
given  by  the  spirit-voices,  she  was  invariably  vic- 
torious, but  when  she  had  accomplished,  to  the  full, 
the  special  work  to  which  those  voices  led  her,  she 
subsequently  permitted  herself  to  be  led  into  battle 
when  they  were  silent,  victory  no  longer  crowned  her 
leadership,  but  she  sustained  serious  physical  in- 
juries at  the  hands  of  the  opposing  troops,  and  soon 
entered  upon  that  sad  episode  in  her  formerly  tri- 
umphant career  which  finally  reached  the  tragic  end 
of  martyrdom.  Among  the  many  histories  of  this 
truly  wonderful  girl,  perhaps  the  most  fascinating 
of  all  is  the  volume  of  "Personal  Recollections," 
translated  from  the  French  by  that  always  delight- 
ful writer  Samuel  Clemens,  familiarly  known  as 
Mark  Twain,  who  says:  ''The  details  of  the  life  of 
Joan  of  Arc  form  a  biography  which  is  unique 
among  the  world's  biographies  in  one  respect.  It  is 
the  only  story  of  a  human  life  which  comes  to  us 
under  oath,  the  only  one  which  comes  to  us  from 
the  witness-stand.  The  official  records  of  the  Great 
Trial  of  1531,  and  of  the  process  of  Rehabilitation 
of  a  quarter  of  a  century  later,  are  still  preserved 
in  the  National  Archives  of  France,  and  they 
furnish  with  remarkable  fulness- the  facts  of  her 
life.  The  history  of  no  other  life  of  that  remote 
time  is  known  with  either  the  certainty  or  the  com- 
prehensiveness that  attaches  to  hers.  The  Sieur 
Louis  De  Conte  is  faithful  to  her  official  history  in 
his  personal  recollections,  and  thus  far  his  trust- 
worthiness is  unimpeachable ;  but  his  mass  of  added 
particulars  must  depend  for  credit  upon  his  word 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     267 

alone."  The  story,  as  told  by  this  well-recognized 
authority,  is  divided  into  three  books,  written  with 
a  peculiarly  vivid  charm  which  makes  the  reader 
feel  that  he  is  himself  living  amid  the  extraordinary 
scenes  so  graphically  depicted,  and  the  original 
French  seemingly  has  lost  nothing  by  translation 
into  Mark  Twain's  wonderfully  beautiful  English. 
To  review  this  narrative  with  any  degree  of  fulness 
would  be  to  practically  re-write  it;  but  the  follow- 
ing extracts  from  the  story  of  Joan's  trial  and  mar- 
tyrdom may  tend,  in  some  slight  degree,  to  famil- 
iarize our  readers  with  what  actually  occurred  at 
the  time  when  a  recognized  saint  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  of  to-day  earned  her  right  to  beati- 
fication. "At  nine  o'clock  the  Maid  of  Orleans,  de- 
liverer of  France,  went  forth  in  the  grace  of  her  in- 
nocence and  her  youth  to  lay  down  her  life  for  tlie 
country  she  loved  with  such  devotion  and  for  the 
king  who  had  abandoned  her.  She  sat  in  the  cart 
that  is  used  only  for  felons.  In  one  respect  she  was 
treated  worse  than  a  felon,  for  whereas  she  was  on 
her  way  to  be  sentenced  by  the  Civilon,  she  already 
bore  her  judgment  inscribed  in  advance  upon  a  mitrc- 
shaped  cap  which  she  wore. 

"In  the  car  with  her  sat  the  Friar  Martin  Lad- 
venu  and  Maitre  Jean  Massieu.  She  looked  girl- 
ishly fair  and  sweet  and  saintly  in  her  long  white 
robe,  and  when  a  gush  of  sunlight  flooded  her  as 
she  emerged  from  the  gloom  of  the  prison  and  was 
yet  for  a  moment  still  framed  in  the  arch  of  the 
sombre  gate,  the  massed  multitudes  of  poor  folk 
murmured,  *A  vision !  a  vision !'  and  sank  to  their 
knees  praying,  and  many  of  the  women  weeping; 


268     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

and  the  moving  invocation  for  the  dying  rose  again, 
and  was  taken  up  and  borne  along,  a  majestic  wave 
of  sound  which  accompanied  the  doomed,  solacing 
and  blessing  her,  all  the  sorrowful  way  to  the  place 
of  death.  'Christ,  have  pity !  Saint  Margaret,  have 
pity!  Pray  for  her,  all  ye  saints,  archangels,  and 
blessed  martyrs;  pray  for  her!  Saints  and  angels, 
intercede  for  her !  From  thy  wrath,  good  Lord,  de- 
liver her !  O  Lord  God,  save  her !  Have  mercy  on 
her,  we  beseech  Thee,  good  Lord!' 

"It  is  just  and  true,  what  one  of  the  histories  has 
said :  'The  poor  and  the  helpless  had  nothing  but 
their  prayers  to  give  Joan  of  Arc ;  but  these  we  may 
believe  were  not  unavailing.  There  are  few  more 
pathetic  events  recorded  in  history  than  this  weep- 
ing, helpless,  praying  crowd,  holding  their  lighted 
candles  and  kneeling  on  the  pavement  beneath  the 
prison  walls  of  the  old  fortress. 

''And  it  was  so  all  the  way.  Thousands  upon 
thousands  massed  upon  their  knees,  and  stretching 
far  down  the  distance,  thick  sown  with  the  faint 
yellow  candle-flames,  like  a  field  starred  with  golden 
flowers. 

"But  there  were  some  who  did  not  kneel;  these 
were  the  English  soldiers.  They  stood  elbow  to 
elbow,  on  each  side  of  Joan's  road,  and  walled  it  in, 
all  the  way;  and  behind  these  living  walls  knelt  the 
multitudes. 

"By-and-bye  a  frantic  man  in  priest's  garb  came 
wailing  and  lamenting,  and  tore  through  the  crowd 
and  the  barrier  of  soldiers,  and  flung  himself  on 
his  knees  by  Joan's  cart,  and  put  up  his  hands  in 
supplication,  crying  out! 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     269 

'* 'O,  forgive;  forgive!' 

**It  was  Loyseleur ! 

"And  Joan  forgave  him;  forgave  him  out  of  a 
heart  that  knew  nothing  but  forgiveness,  nothing 
but  compassion,  nothing  but  pity  for  all  that  suffer, 
let  their  offence  be  what  it  might.  And  she  had  no 
word  of  reproach  for  this  poor  wretch  who  had 
wrought  day  and  night  with  deceits  and  treacheries 
and  hypocrisies  to  betray  her  to  her  death. 

"The  soldiers  would  have  killed  him,  but  the  Earl 
of  Warwick  saved  his  life.  What  became  of  him 
is  not  known.  He  hid  himself  from  the  world  some- 
where, to  endure  his  remorse  as  he  might. 

"In  the  square  of  the  Old  Market  stood  the  two 
platforms  and  the  stake  which  had  stood  before 
in  the  churchyard  of  St.  Ouen.  The  platforms  were 
occupied  as  before,  the  one  by  Joan  and  her  judges, 
the  other  by  great  dignitaries,  the  principal  being 
Cauchon  and  the  English  Cardinal,  Winchester.  The 
square  was  packed  with  people,  the  windows  and 
roofs  of  the  blocks  of  buildings  surrounding  it 
were  black  with  them. 

"When  the  preparation  had  been  finished,  all  noise 
and  movement  gradually  ceased,  and  a  waiting  still- 
ness followed  which  was  solemn  and  impressive. 

"And  now,  by  order  of  Cauchon,  an  ecclesiastic 
named  Nicholas  Midi  preached  a  sermon,  wherein 
he  explained  that  when  a  branch  of  a  vine — which  is 
the  Church — becomes  diseased  and  corrupt,  it  must 
be  cut  away  or  it  will  corrupt  and  destroy  the  whole 
vine.  He  made  it  appear  that  Joan,  through  her 
wickedness,  was  a  menace  and  a  peril  to  the 
Church's  purity  and  holiness,  and  her  death  there- 


270     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

fore  necessary.  When  he  was  come  to  the  end  of 
his  discourse,  he  turned  toward  her  and  paused 
a  moment,  then  he  said :  *Joan,  the  Church  can  no 
longer  protect  you.     Go  in  peace !' 

*'Joan  had  been  placed  wholly  apart  and  conspicu- 
ous, to  signify  the  Church's  abandonment  of  her, 
and  she  sat  there  in  her  loneliness,  waiting  in  pa- 
tience and  resignation  for  the  end.  Cauchon  ad- 
dressed her  now.  He  had  been  advised  to  read  the 
form  of  her  abjuration  to  her,  and  had  brought 
it  with  him;  but  he  changed  his  mind,  fearing  that 
she  would  proclaim  the  truth — that  she  never  know- 
ingly abjured — and  so  bring  shame  upon  him  and 
perpetual  infamy.  He  contented  himself  with  ad- 
monishing her  to  keep  in  mind  her  wickednesses,  and 
repent  of  them,  and  think  of  her  salvation.  Then 
he  solemnly  pronounced  her  excommunicate,  and 
cut  off  from  the  body  of  the  Church.  With  a  final 
word  he  delivered  her  over  to  the  secular  arm  for 
judgment  and  sentence. 

'Joan,  weeping,  knelt  and  began  to  pray.  For 
whom  ?  Herself  ?  Oh,  no — for  the  King  of  France. 
Her  voice  rose  sweet  and  clear,  and  penetrated  all 
hearts  with  its  passionate  pathos.  She  never  thought 
of  his  treacheries  to  her,  she  never  thought  of  his 
desertions  of  her,  she  never  remembered  that  it  was 
because  he  was  an  ingrate  that  she  was  here  to  die 
a  miserable  death ;  she  remembered  only  that  he  was 
her  King,  that  she  was  his  loyal  and  loving  subject, 
and  that  his  enemies  had  undermined  his  cause  with 
evil  reports  and  false  charges,  and  he  not  by  to  de- 
fend himself.  And  so,  in  the  very  presence  of 
death,  she  forgot  her  own  troubles  to  implore  all  in 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     271 

her  hearing  to  be  just  to  him;  to  beHeve  that  he 
was  good  and  noble  and  sincere,  and  not  in  any  way 
to  blame  for  any  acts  of  hers,  neither  advising  them 
or  urging  them,  but  being  wholly  clear  and  free 
of  all  responsibility  for  them.  Then,  closing,  she 
begged  in  humble  and  touching  words  that  all  here 
present  would  pray  for  her  and  would  pardon  her, 
both  her  enemies  and  such  as  might  look  friendly 
upon  her  and  feel  pity  for  her  in  their  hearts. 

*'There  was  hardly  one  heart  there  that  was  not 
touched — even  the  English,  even  the  judges,  showed 
it,  and  there  was  many  a  lip  that  trembled  and  many 
an  eye  that  was  blurred  with  tears;  yes,  even  the 
English  Cardinal's — that  man  with  a  political  heart 
of  stone  but  a  human  heart  of  flesh. 

"The  secular  judge  who  should  have  delivered 
judgment  and  pronounced  sentence  was  himself  so 
disturbed  that  he  forgot  his  duty,  and  Joan  went 
to  her  death  unsentenced — thus  completing  with  an 
illegality  what  had  begun  illegally,  and  had  so  con- 
tinued to  the  end.     He  only  said — to  the  guards : 

'*  'Take  her' ;  and  to  the  executioner,  'Do  your 
duty.' 

*7oan  asked  for  a  cross.  None  was  able  to  fur- 
nish one.  But  an  English  soldier  broke  a  stick  in 
two,  and  crossed  the  pieces  and  tied  them  together, 
and  this  cross  he  gave  her,  moved  to  it  by  the  good 
heart  that  was  in  him;  and  she  kissed  it  and  put  it 
to  her  bosom.  Then  Isambard  de  la  Pierre  went  to 
the  church  near  by  and  brought  her  a  consecrated 
one;  and  this  one  also  she  kissed,  and  pressed  it  to 
her  bosom  with  rapture,  and  then  kissed  it  again 


272     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

and  again,  covering  it  with  tears  and  pouring  out 
her  gratitude  to  God  and  the  saints. 

"And  so,  weeping,  and  with  her  cross  to  her 
lips,  she  climbed  up  the  cruel  steps  to  the  face  of  the 
stake,  with  the  friar  Isambard  at  her  side.  Then 
she  was  helped  up  to  the  top  of  the  pile  of  wood 
that  was  built  around  the  lower  third  of  the  stake, 
and  stood  upon  it  with  her  back  against  the  stake, 
and  the  world  gazing  up  at  her  breathless.  The 
executioner  ascended  to  her  side  and  wound  the 
chains  about  her  slender  body,  and  so  fastened  her 
to"the  stake.  Then  he  descended  to  finish  his  dread- 
ful office,  and  there  she  remained  alone — she  that 
had  had  so  many  friends  in  the  days  when  she  was 
free,  and  had  been  so  loved  and  so  dear. 

*'A11  these  things  I  saw,  albeit  dimly  and  blurred 
with  tears;  but  I  could  bear  no  more.  I  continued 
in  my  place,  but  what  I  shall  deliver  to  you  now  I 
got  by  others'  eyes  and  others'  mouths.  Tragic 
sounds  there  were  that  pierced  my  ears  and  wounded 
my  heart  as  I  sat  there,  but  it  is  as  I  tell  you :  the 
latest  image  recorded  by  my  eyes  in  that  desolating 
hour  was  Joan  of  Arc  with  the  grace  of  her  comely 
youth  still  unmarred ;  and  that  image,  untouched  by 
time  or  decay,  has  remained  with  me  all  my  days. 
Now  I  will  go  on. 

"If  any  thought  that  now,  in  that  solemn  hour, 
when  all  transgressors  repent  and  confess,  she  would 
revoke  her  revocation  and  say  her  great  deeds  had 
been  evil  deeds,  and  Satan  and  his  fiends  their  source, 
they  erred.  No  such  thought  was  in  her  blameless 
mind.  She  was  not  thinking  of  herself  and  her 
troubles,  but  of  others,  and  of  woes  that  might  be' 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     273 

fall  them.  And  so,  turning  her  grieving  eyes  about 
her,  where  rose  the  towers  and  spires  of  that  fair 
city,  she  said : 

"  'Oh,  Rouen,  Rouen !  Must  I  die  here,  and  must 
you  be  my  tomb  ?  Ah,  Rouen,  Rouen !  I  have  great 
fear  that  you  will  suffer  for  my  death.' 

'*A  whiff  of  smoke  swept  upward  past  her  face, 
and  for  one  moment  terror  seized  her  and  she 
cried  out,  Water!  Give  me  holy  water!'  But  the 
next  moment  her  fears  were  gone,  and  they  came 
no  more  to  torture  her. 

''She  heard  the  flames  crackling  below  her,  and 
immediately  distress  for  a  fellow  creature  who  was 
in  danger  took  possession  of  her.  It  was  the  friar 
Isambard.  She  had  given  him  her  cross  and  begged 
him-  to  raise  it  toward  her  face  and  let  her  eyes 
rest  in  hope  and  consolation  upon  it,  till  she  had  en- 
tered into  the  peace  of  God.  She  made  him  go  out 
from  the  danger  of  the  fire.  Then  she  was  satis- 
fied, and  said : 

"  'Now  keep  it  always  in  my  sight  until  the  end.' 

"Not  even  yet  could  Cauchon,  that  man  without 
shame,  endure  to  let  her  die  in  peace,  but  went  to- 
ward her,  all  black  with  crimes  and  sins  as  he  was, 
and  cried  out : 

"  'I  am  come,  Joan,  to  exhort  you  for  the  last 
time  to  repent  and  seek  the  pardon  of  God.' 

"  'I  die  through  you,'  she  said,  and  these  were  the 
last  words  she  spoke  to  any  upon  earth. 

"Then  the  pitchy  smoke,  shot  through  with  red 
flashes  of  flame,  rolled  up  in  a  thick  volume  and 
hid  her  from  sight;  and  from  the  heart  of  this 
darkness   her   voice   rose   strong  and   eloquent   in 


274     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

prayer,  and  when  by  moments  the  wind  shredded 
somewhat  of  the  smoke  aside,  there  were  veiled 
glimpses  of  an  upturned  face  and  moving  lips.  At 
last  a  merciful  swift  tide  of  flame  burst  upward, 
and  none  saw  that  face  any  more,  nor  that  form, 
and  the  voice  was  still. 

"Yes,  she  was  gone  from  us ;  Joan  of  Arc !  What 
little  words  they  are,  to  tell  of  a  rich  world  made 
empty-  and  poor ! 

"Joan's  brother  Jacques  died  in  Domremy  during 
the  Great  Trial  at  Rouen.  This  was  according  to 
the  prophecy  which  Joan  made  that  day  in  the 
pastures,  the  time  that  she  said  the  rest  of  us  would 
go  to  the  great  wars. 

"When  her  poor  old  father  heard  of  the  martyr- 
dom, it  broke  his  heart,  and  he  died. 

"The  mother  was  granted  a  pension  by  the  City 
of  Orleans,  and  upon  this  she  lived  out  her  days, 
which  were  many.  Twenty-four  years  after  her  il- 
lustrious child's  death,  she  travelled  all  the  way  to 
Paris  in  the  winter  time,  and  was  present  at  the 
opening  of  the  discussion  in  the  Cathedral  of  Notre 
Dame,  which  was  the  first  step  in  the  Rehabilitation. 
Paris  was  crowded  with  people,  from  all  over 
France,  who  came  to  get  sight  of  the  venerable  dame, 
and  it  was  a  touching  spectacle  when  she  moved 
through  those  reverent,  wet-eyed  multitudes  on  her 
way  to  the  grand  honors  awaiting  her  at  the  Cathe- 
dral. With  her  were  Jean  and  Pierre,  no  longer 
the  light-hearted  youths  who  marched  with  us  from 
Vaucouleurs,  but  war-worn  veterans  with  hair  be- 
ginning to  show  frost. 

"After  the  martyrdom,  Noel  and  I  went  back  to 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     275 

Domremy,  but  presently,  when  the  Constable  Riche- 
mont  superseded  La  Tremouille  as  the  King's  Chief 
Adviser,  and  began  the  completion  of  Joan's  great 
work,  we  put  on  our  harness  and  returned  to  the 
field  and  fought  for  the  King  all  through  the  wars 
and  skirmishes,  until  France  was  freed  of  the  Eng- 
lish. It  was  what  Joan  would  have  desired  of  us; 
and,  dead  or  alive,  her  desire  was  law  for  us.  All 
the  survivors  of  the  personal  staff  were  faithful  to 
her  memory  and  fought  for  the  King  to  the  end. 
Mainly  we  were  well  scattered,  but  when  Paris 
fell  we  happened  to  be  together.  It  was  a  great  day 
and  a  joyous ;  but  it  was  a  sad  one  at  the  same  time, 
because  Joan  was  not  there  to  march  into  the  cap- 
tured capital  with  us 

"Noel  and  I  remained  always  together,  and  I  was 
by  his  side  when  death  claimed  him.  It  was  in  the 
last  great  battle  of  the  war.  In  that  battle  fell  also 
Joan's  sturdy  old  enemy,  Talbot.  He  was  eighty- 
five  years  old,  and  had  spent  his  whole  life  in  battle. 
A  fine  old  lion  he  was,  with  his  flowing  white  mane 
and  his  tameless  spirit;  yes,  and  his  indestructible 
energy  as  well ;  for  he  fought  as  knightly  and  vigor- 
ous a  fight  that  day  as  the  best  man  there. 

'Xa  Hire  survived  the  martyrdom  thirteen  years ; 
and  always  fighting,  of  course,  for  that  was  all  he 
enjoyed  in  life.  I  did  not  see  him  in  all  that  time, 
for  we  were  far  apart,  but  one  was  always  hearing 
of  him. 

"The  Bastard  of  Orleans  and  D'Alen§on  and 
D'Aulon  lived  to  see  France  free,  and  to  testify 
with  Jean  and  Pierre  d'Arc  and  Pasquerel  and  me 
at  the  Rehabilitation.     But  they  are  all  at  rest  now, 


276     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

these  many  years.  I  alone  am  left  of  those  who 
fought  at  the  side  of  Joan  of  Arc  in  the  great  wars. 
She  said  I  should  live  until  these  wars  were  for- 
gotten— a  prophecy  which  failed.  If  I  should  live 
a  thousand  years,  it  would  still  fail.  For  whatso- 
ever had  touch  with  Joan  of  Arc,  that  thing  is  im- 
mortal. 

''Members  of  Joan's  family  married,  and  they 
have  left  descendants.  Their  descendants  are  of 
the  nobility,  but  their  family  name  and  blood  bring 
them  honors  which  no  other  nobles  receive  or  may 
hope  for.  You  have  seen  how  everybody  along  the 
way  uncovered  when  those  children  came  yesterday 
to  pay  their  duty  to  me.  It  was  not  because  they 
are  noble;  it  is  because  they  are  grandchildren  of 
the  brothers  of  Joan  of  Arc. 

''Now  as  to  the  Rehabilitation.  Joan  crowned 
the  King  at  Rheims.  For  reward,  he  allowed  her 
to  be  hunted  to  her  death  without  making  one  effort 
to  save  her.  During  the  next  twenty-three  years  he 
remained  indifferent  to  her  memory,  indifferent  to 
the  fact  that  her  good  name  was  under  a  damning 
blot  put  there  by  the  priests  because  of  the  deeds 
which  she  had  done  in  saving  him  and  his  sceptre, 
indifferent  to  the  fact  that  France  was  ashamed.  In- 
different all  that  time.  Then  he  suddenly  changed, 
and  was  anxious  to  have  justice  for  poor  Joan, 
himself.  Why?  Had  he  become  grateful  at  last? 
Had  remorse  attacked  his  hard  heart  ?  No ;  he  had 
a  better  reason — a  better  one  for  his  sort  of  man. 
This  better  reason  was  that,  now  that  the  English 
had  been  finally  expelled  from  the  country,  they 
were  beginning  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     277 

this  King  had  gotten  his  crown  by  the  hands  of  a 
person  proven  by  the  priests  to  have  been  in  lea[^fue 
with  Satan,  and  burnt  for  it  by  them  as  a  sorceress 
— therefore,  of  what  value  or  authority  was  such  a 
kingship  as  that?  Of  no  value  at  all;  no  nation 
could  afford  to  allow  such  a  King  to  remain  on  the 
throne. 

"It  was  high  time  to  stir  now,  and  the  King  did 
it.  That  is  ho\\^  Charles  VII.  came  to  be  smitten 
with  anxiety  to  have  justice  done  the  memory  of 
his  benefactress. 

"He  appealed  to  the  Pope,  and  the  Pope  ap- 
pointed a  great  commission  of  churchmen  to  ex- 
amine into  the  facts  of  Joan's  life  and  award  judg- 
ment. The  Commission  sat  at  Paris,  at  Domremy, 
at  Rouen,  at  Orleans,  and  at  several  other  places, 
and  continued  its  work  during  several  months.  It 
examined  the  record  of  Joan's  trial,  it  examined  the 
Bastard  of  Orleans  and  the  Duke  D'Alengon,  and 
D'Aulon,  and  Pasquerel,  and  Courcelles,  and  Isanv 
bard  de  la  Pierre,  and  Manchon,  and  me,  and  many 
others  whose  names  I  have  made  familiar  to  you ;  also 
they  examined  more  than  a  hundred  witnesses  whose 
names  are  less  familiar  to  you — friends  of  Joan  in 
Domremy,  Vaucouleurs,  Orleans,  and  other  places, 
and  a  number  of  judges  and  other  people  who  had 
assisted  at  the  Rouen  trials,  the  abjuration,  and  the 
martyrdom.  And  out  of  this  exhaustive  examina- 
tion Joan's  character  and  history  came  spotless  and 
perfect,  and  this  verdict  was  placed  upon  record,  to 
remain  forever. 

"I  was  present  upon  most  of  these  occasions,  and 
saw  again  many  faces  which  I  have  not  seen  for  a 


278     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

quarter  of  a  century;  among  them  some  well-beloved 
faces— those  of  our  generals  and  that  of  Catherine 
Boucher  (married,  alas!),  and  also  among  them  cer- 
tain other  faces  that  filled  me  with  bitterness — those 
of  Beaupere  and  Courcelles  and  a  number  of  their 
fellow-fiends.  I  saw  Haumette  and  Little  Mengette 
— edging  along  toward  fifty,  now,  and  mothers  of 
many  children.  I  saw  Noel's  father,  and  the  parents 
of  the  Paladin  and  the  Sunflower. 

''It  was  beautiful  to  hear  the  Duke  D'Alengon 
praise  Joan's  splendid  capacities  as  a  general,  and 
to  hear  the  Bastard  endorse  these  praises  with  his 
eloquent  tongue,  and  then  go  on  and  tell  how  sweet 
and  good  Joan  was,  and  how  full  of  pluck  and  fire 
and  impetuosity  and  mischief  and  mirthfulness,  and 
tenderness  and  compassion,  and  everything  that  was 
pure  and  fine  and  noble  and  lovely.  He  made  her 
live  again  before  me,  and  wrung  my  heart. 

"I  have  finished  my  story  of  Joan  of  Arc,  that 
wonderful  child,  that  sublime  personality,  that  spirit 
which  in  one  regard  has  had  no  peer  and  will  have 
none — this :  its  purity  from  all  alloy  of  self-seeking, 
self-interest,  personal  ambition.  In  it  no  trace  of 
these  motives  can  be  found,  search  as  you  may,  and 
this  cannot  be  said  of  any  other  person  whose  name 
appears  in  profane  history. 

''With  Joan  of  Arc,  love  of  country  was  more 
than  a  sentiment — it  was  a  passion.  She  was  the 
genius  of  Patriotism — she  was  patriotism  embodied, 
concreted,  made  flesh,  and  palpable  to  the  touch 
and  visible  to  the  eye. 

*'Love,  Mercy,  Charity,  Fortitude,  War,  Pe?ice, 
Poetry,  Music — these  may  be  symbolised  as  any  shall 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     279 

prefer;  by  figures  of  either  sex  and  of  any  age; 
but  a  slender  girl  in  her  first  young  bloom,  with 
the  martyr's  crown  upon  her  head,  and  in  her  hand 
the  sword  that  severed  her  country's  bonds — shall 
not  this,  and  no  other,  stand  for  patriotism 
through  all  ages,  until  time  shall  end  ?" 

Such,  in  brief,  is  a  fair  record  of  one  of  the  most 
marvellous  cases  of  inspired  bravery  and  true  mar- 
tyrdom the  world  has  ever  known.  There  may  still 
remain  psychological  mysteries  connected  with  the 
Maid's  career  which  neither  physical  nor  psychical 
research  has  yet  been  able  fully  to  fathom,  but  that 
is  no  reason  why  we  should  withhold  our  consent  to 
such  abundant  testimony  as  has  clearly  been  afforded 
to  the  super-physical  element  in  the  career  of  this 
mysterious  girl  whose  name,  nearly  five  centuries 
after  her  departure  from  the  physical  body,  is  gain- 
ing continually  added  fame  and  lustre.  Europe  as 
well  as  Asia,  the  Christian  centuries  as  well  as  older 
times,  have  all  borne  witness  to  the  reality  of  spirit- 
ual interposition  in  the  affairs  of  humanity  on 
earth,  thereby  entirely  putting  to  flight  the  errone- 
ous assumption  that  this  world  stands  alone  in  space, 
or  that  its  inhabitants  while  incarnate  are  isolated 
from  companionship  with  intelligent  entities  on  other 
than  physical  planes  of  manifestation.  Whenever 
a  work  needs  to  be  done,  fitting  instruments  are 
raised  up  to  accomplish  it,  and  these  in  the  present, 
as  well  as  in  the  past,  appear  often  at  first  entirely 
unsuited  to  the  mighty  tasks  they  have  been  selected 
to  fulfil.  Time  vindicates  all  things.  Justice  reigns^ 
and  must  forever  triumph. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

ANDREW  JACKSON  DAVIS,  A  NINETEENTH   CENTURY 
SEER — A  GWMPSE  AT  HIS  PHII.OSOPHY. 

Among  the  truly  wonderful  pioneers  of  the  great 
new  wave  of  thought  which  during  the  past  cen- 
tury largely  revolutionized  the  entire  thinking  world, 
the  name  of  Andrew  Jackson  Davis,  author  of  ''Na- 
ture's Divine  Revelations,"  "The  Great  Harmonia," 
and  many  other  wonderful  literary  productions,  de- 
serves to  hold  a  singularly  high  and  honored  place. 
We  hear  so  much  of  the  influence  of  heredity  and 
of  environment,  that  we  are  generally  much  aston- 
ished when  we  find  a  highly  gifted  writer  display- 
ing amazing  knowledge  on  almost  every  subject,  if 
concerning  his  ancestry  and  early  history  we  know 
nothing  in  any  way  remarkable. 

The  mother  of  Andrew  Jackson  Davis  seems  to 
have  been  a  good,  honest,  ordinary  woman,  display- 
ing no  remarkable  traits  or  characteristics,  and  as  to 
the  boy's  early  history  we  can  only  discover  that  he 
attended  common  country  schools  and  was  in  early 
youth  apprenticed  to  a  shoemaker.  Without  some 
spiritual  theory  to  account  for  genius,  we  can  only 
remain  utterly  bewildered  in  presence  of  the  great 
library  of  outwardly  unassuming  but  intellectually 
imposing   volumes    which   have    recently   been   re- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     281 

issued  by  the  Austin  Publishing  Company,  Roches- 
ter, N.  Y.,  and  which  carry  us  back  to  the  'forties 
and  'fities  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Quite  apart 
from  the  phenomenal  character  of  their  authorship, 
the  works  themselves  are  a  stupendous  revelation, 
embracing  as  they  do  profound  and  learned  treatises 
on  all  the  natural  sciences,  besides  undertaking  to 
give  us  wonderful  enlightenment  concerning  the 
(ordinarily)  unseen  universe. 

In  the, case  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  we  can  trace 
the  gradual  evolution  of  a  mighty  intellect.  Sweden- 
borg was  born  into  a  distinguished  family  of  schol- 
ars, and  he  gradually  ascended  by  well-defined  suc- 
cessive steps  from  treatises  on  natural  science  and 
philosophy  to  dissertations  concerning  the  spiritual 
universe.  But  while  Swedenborg  was  over  fifty 
years  of  age  when  he  undertook  to  unveil  the  won- 
ders of  life  in  spiritual  spheres,  the  Seer  of  Pough- 
keepsie  was  under  twenty,  and  quite  illiterate  in 
the  collegiate  sense,  when  he  began  unfolding  with 
marvellous  insight  and  wealth  of  diction  the  won- 
ders of  those  innumerable  super-physical  states  and 
conditions  concerning  which  the  majority  of  even 
the  best-informed  among  scholars  professed  to  know 
next  to  nothing.  Were  the  works  of  Davis  wild 
romances  or  accounts  of  rhapsodic  visions  lacking 
alike  in  logical  coherence  and  continuity,  we  might 
quickly  dismiss  them  as  psychic  vagaries,  and  pay 
no  serious  attention  to  their  inculcations;  but  in 
*  Davis's  writings  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with 
a  fund  of  scientific  and  historical  information  which 
renders  the  books  marvels  of  erudition  even  if  we 
pay  no  heed  to  the  accounts  of  unseen  spheres  which 


282     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

we  are  told  the  youth  clearly  beheld  when  in  a  su- 
perior condition.    It  was  in  1846  and  1847  that  the 
first  of  these  great  works  was  brought  to  public 
notice,   therefore  just  before  the   year   when  the 
''Rochester  Knockings"  are  said  to  have  inaugurated 
the  advent  of   Modern   Spiritualism.      Davis  was 
therefore  a  forerunner  of  all  those  modern  prophets 
who  startled  America  with  their  disclosures  con- 
cerning life  beyond  death,  and  all  of  whom  in  the 
early  days  of  the  Spiritualistic  movement  seemed  to 
take  a  somewhat  different  view  of  their  relation  to 
the  world  of  spirits  than  that  claimed  for  himself 
by  Davis.     We  all  know  that  the  common  idea  of 
mediumship  is  of  a  state  or  condition  in  which  the 
medium  is  under  the  control  or  direction  of  some 
outside  influence,  and  usually  it  is  claimed  that  such 
influence  works  through  the  medium,  whereas  in  the 
"superior  condition"  of  Davis,  which  in  this  respect 
largely  resembled  that  of  Swedenborg,  he  claimed 
to  see  and.  hear  for  himself  what  was  going  on  in 
other  worlds,  or  on  other  planes  of  existence,  by 
virtue  of  the  enlargement  of  his  own  perception  en- 
abling him  to  see  much  further  into  the  universe 
than  is  possible  with  only  ordinary  faculties.     We 
read   in  his   Autobiography,    called    "The    Magic 
Staff,"  that  at  first  he  was  magnetized  or  mesmer- 
ized, and  while  in  the  magnetic  or  mesmeric  state 
exhibited  singular  lucidity.     But  the  men  who  thus 
operated  with  him  were  entirely  incapable  of  trans- 
mitting through  his  agency  the  wondrous  informa- 
tion which  soon  began  to  pour  in  torrents  through 
his  lips,  th(  ugh  their  manipulations  do  seem  to  have 
opened  a  door  into  the  trance  condition,  which  soon 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     283 

gave  place  to  a  higher  state  of  independent  clair- 
voyance. How  far  magnetism  or  mesmerism  can 
prove  a  genuine  aid  to  psychic  development  is  a 
very  open  and  much-disputed  question,  but  the  bulk 
of  testimony  in  this  direction,  which  we  may  reason- 
ably deem  reliable,  is  that  it  does  often  prepare  the 
way  for  higher  developments  which  follow,  princi- 
pally by  removing  that  extreme  self -consciousness, 
which,  when  coupled  with  inordmate  attention  to  the 
external  side  of  things,  is  doubtless  the  chief  bar- 
rier in  the  way  of  mental  and  spiritual  lucidity. 
Though  it  is  quite  clear  to  every  logical  thinker 
that  no  one  can  impart  knowledge  which  he  does 
not  possess,  it  is  by  no  means  unreasonable  to  as- 
sume that  certain  obstacles  may  be  removed,  which 
are  usually  in  the  way  of  receiving  information 
psychically,  through  the  agency  of  the  mesmerist. 
In  the  middle  of  the  last  century  mesmeric  opera- 
tions were  greatly  in  vogue  among  many  learned 
doctors,  prominent  among  whom  stood  the  famous 
Dr.  Gregory  of  Edinburgh,  whose  long-famous 
work,  "Animal  Magnetism  or  Mesmerism  and  Its 
Phenomena,"  contains  a  great  many  thoroughly  well 
authenticated  accounts  of  remarkable  clairvoyance 
induced  by  mesmeric  treatment.  But  most  of  this 
clairvoyance  was  very  much  of  a  piece  with  the 
thought-transference,  telepathy,  and  mental  tele- 
graphy, about  which  we  are  now  hearing  and  read- 
ing constantly.  Contrast  the  meagre  results  of  many 
recent  endeavors  to  communicate  with  the  unseen 
world  on  the  part  of  such  distinguished  scientific 
celebrities  as,  for  example.  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  with 
the   magnificent   inspired   output   of   the    Seer   of 


284     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

Poughkeepsie,  and  we  are  only  the  more  bewildered 
with  the  dazzling  splendor  of  a  revelation  which  has 
been  almost  entirely  overlooked  by  the  scientific 
world,  even  while  a  distinguished  portion  of  it  has 
been  engaging  itself  with  an  attempted  solution  of 
the  very  problems  which  this  revelation  seems  so 
very  largely  to  have  solved.  But  we  must  not  forget 
that  however  satisfactory  as  well  as  wonderful  this 
revelation  may  appear,  it  does  not  seem  to  supply 
that  distinctly  evidential  individual  testimony  to 
personal  immortality  which  our  modern  seekers  are 
striving  to  obtain,  unless  we  admit  the  many  in- 
stances of  recorded  clairvoyance  with  which  his  writ- 
ings abound  as  supplying  such  evidence.  We  can 
quite  readily  imagine  the  attitude  taken  by  our  mod- 
ern Psychical  Research  Committees  regarding  con- 
clusive evidence,  and  should  we  press  such  alleged 
evidence  upon  them,  they  would  naturally  inquire 
where  is  your  proof  that  such  visions  are  other  than 
results  of  a  fertile  and  highly  vivid  imagination? 
To  this  inquiry  we  can  indeed  offer  no  reply  which 
might  prove  universally  conclusive.  Still,  it  may  rea- 
sonably be  argued  that  the  information  given  is  so 
extensive,  profound,  and  rational  that  the  very  large 
probability  is  that  it  emanated  from  the  source 
whence  its  recipient  declared  that  it  did  proceed. 
But  in  these  days  ''cross-correspondence,"  and  other 
new  phases  of  telepathic  intercourse,  hold  the  center 
of  the  stage  in  certain  scientific  circles,  and  these 
phenomena  are  indeed  intensely  interesting  and 
deserve  the  fullest  attention  at  the  hands  of  earnest 
students  everywhere.  But  on  that  account  we  are  by 
no  means  justified  in  narrowing  the  field  of  our 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     285 

vision  and  confining  our  researches  within  the  very 
limited  domain  in  which  many  investigators  seem 
desirous  of  pursuing  their  inquiries.  Having 
glanced  over  the  content's  of  a  valuable  recent  book 
by  Sir  Oliver  Lodge — which  has  been  widely  re- 
viewed in  periodicals  of  all  descriptions  and  has  fur- 
nished texts  for  many  lectures  and  essays — we  find 
the  most  characteristic,  evidences  of  both  mundane 
and  supra-mundane  telepathy  to  consist  in  dialogue 
of  an  extremely  commonplace  nature,  a  fact  which 
Professor  Hyslop  and  many  other  earnest  investi- 
gators regard  as  confirmatory  of  the  fact  that  indi- 
viduality is  expressed  much  more  fully  by  means  of 
an  exhibition  of  minor  peculiarities  than  through 
the  agency  of  profound  utterances  which,  however 
valuable  from  a  philosophical  standpoint,  convey 
no  convincing  impression  of  having  emanated  from 
a  particular  individual  intelligence.  One  of  the  spe- 
cial characteristics  of  the  avowed  inspiration  of  A.  J. 
Davis  is  that  he  received  it  from  a  "sphere"  of  intel- 
ligence rather  than  from  any  special  individual,  and 
for  that  very  reason  it  may  lack  a  peculiar  personal 
character,  such  as  characterizes  friendly  messages 
between  companion  souls,  while  it  gains  immensely 
in  profundity  of  sentiment  and  grandiloquence  of 
speech.  The  work  of  Davis  was  evidently  far  more 
to  set  people  thinking  concerning  mighty  problems 
relating  to  universal  life  than  to  give  them  private 
information  relative  to  their  personal  affairs;  yet, 
because  the  smaller  can  always  be  included  within  the 
greater  the  diligent  student  of  the  Harmonial  Phil- 
osophy can  find  almost  every  question  fully  an- 
swered which  pertains  to  the  personal  side  of  life 


286     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

here  and  hereafter.  The  "magic  staff,"  which  Davis 
said  he  was  recommended,  by  his  spiritual  prompt- 
ers, always  to  rely  upon  in  every  time  of  doubt  and 
difficulty,  was  couched  in  these  words  :  "Behold,  here 
is  thy  magic  staff :  under  Ahh  circumstances  keep 
AN  EVEN  MIND.  Take  it;  try  it;  walk  with  it;  talk 
with  it;  lean  on  it;  believe  on  it  forever."  We  are 
told  that  these  words  came  to  him  in  radiant  light, 
but  a  doubt  seized  him,  and  he  asked :  Is  that  longest 
sentence  my  magic  staff,  "Under  all  circumstances 
keep  an  even  mind,"  is  that  the  mystic  cane  which 
I  thought  I  had  lost  or  forgotten?  In  a  twinkling 
the  sheet  of  whiteness  vanished,  and  in  its  place 
beamed  forth  YES.  This  satisfied  him,  and  from 
that  day  forward  he  declares  that  he  always  leaned 
on  that  reliable  staff,  which  never  deserted  him 
.throughout  his  long,  eventful  life,  which  only  closed 
when  he  was  past  eighty-three  years  of  age.  This 
revelation  cam^jp  him  in  1844,  some  time  previous 
to  the  more  wonderful  experiences  which  quickly 
and  thickly  followed,  till  at  length  we  find  no  less 
than  twenty-seven  wonderful  volumes  growing 
under  his  hand,  in  consequence  of  his  always  fol- 
lowing the  guidance  of  that  marvelous  inspiration 
which  exalted  him  to  the  rank  of  a  truly  marvelous 
prophet  and  philosopher.  Personal  details  are  al- 
ways interesting  when  they  concern  remarkable  per- 
sonages, for  they  serve  to  throw  some  light  upon 
the  temperament  as  well  as  character  of  those  who 
are  destined  to  perform  unusual  work  in  the  world. 
Davis  says  of  himself,  when  reviewing  his  boyhood 
years  :  "I  had  a  love  of  truth  ;  a  reverence  for  knowl- 
edge; a  somewhat  cheerful  disposition;  a  deficient 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     287 

imagination;  unbelief  or  ignorance  concerning  the 
existence  of  ghosts,  etc. ;  dread  of  death,  and  a  still 
greater  dread  of  encountering  what  might  exist 
beyond  the  grave;  a  tendency  to  spontaneous  som- 
nambulism ;  an  ear  for  what  I  then  called  imaginary 
voices;  a  memory  defective  as  to  dates;  a  mind 
nearly  barren  of  ordinary  education;  a  heart  very 
sympathetic  in  cases  of  trial  and  suffering ;  and  lastly 
I  was  disposed  to  meditation  and  the  freedom  of  sol- 
itude." Speaking  of  his  physical  condition,  he  says 
that  his  body  was  imperfectly  developed;  breast  nar- 
row ;  spine  short  and  weak ;  stomach  very  sensitive ; 
muscular  fabric  unsound  and  inefficient;  nervous 
system  highly  impressible,  and  he  ends  this  uninvit- 
ing description  of  his  personal  appearance  and  con- 
dition by  declaring  that  he  was  not  calculated  to 
inspire  strangers  with  much  interest  in  his  existence. 
These  statements  are  of  great  scientific  interest  in 
so  far  as  they  furnish  overwhelming  proof  that  the 
development  of  the  psychic  faculty  in  a  delicate  lad, 
when  wisely  carried  forward,  far  from  leading  to 
physical  disability  or  mental  deterioration,  served  to 
build  up  a  robust  mind  and  body,  which  not  only 
endured  considerable  physical  and  mental  exertion 
through  a  protracted  lifetime,  but  also  served  the 
benign  and  noble  purpose  of  conveying  a  vast 
amount  of  health-giving  information  to  multitudes. 
That  there  are  dangers  connected  with  sensitiveness 
of  every  kind,  no  reasonable  student  will  deny,  but 
these  are  often  greatly  exaggerated,  and  in  no  in- 
stances is  this  rendered  so  painfully  apparent  as 
among  people  who  foolishly  discountenance  and 
berate  all  exercise  of  supraphysical  faculty.    Among 


288     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

the  many  works  of  Davis  his  "Lyceum  Manual"  is 
singularly  fascinating  and  affords  a  beautiful  and 
comprehensive  basis  for  the  healthy  instruction  and 
exercise  of  children  and  young  people  in  liberal  Sun- 
day Schools,  Though  the  Lyceum  Movement  has 
somewhat  waned  in  America,  it  has  taken  deep  root, 
and  is  now  greatly  flourishing  all  over  Great  Britain 
and  in  many  of  the  British  Colonies.  The  system  of 
teaching  and  exercising  is  so  beautiful  and  natural 
that  it  unfolds  the  whole  nature  of  the  youth  or 
maiden  who  follows  it  out  in  its  entirety,  and  instead 
of  forcing  upon  children  doubtful  theological  dog- 
mas, which  no  one  attempts  to  fully  comprehend, 
young  people  in  a  Lyceum  are  gently  led  on  through 
a  contemplation  of  the  beauties  of  external  nature 
to  penetrate  into  the  mysteries  of  the  yet  more  glori- 
ous spiritual  universe.  In  the  Fifth  Volume  of  the 
*'Great  Harmonia"  we  are  confronted  with  almost  a 
complete  epitome  of  the  teachings  of  the  world's 
greatest  seers  and  sages,  from  very  ancient  to  quite 
modern  times,  and  through  all  these  narratives  we 
can  trace  far  more  than  ordinary  insight  into  the 
underlying  principles  which  these  master  minds  have 
clothed  in  systems  of  thought  and  embodied  in 
schools  of  philosophy,  the  influence  of  which  is  at 
this  day  even  greater  than  when  these  mighty  doc- 
trines were  originally  promulgated.  We  here  append 
a  few  citations : 

From  ''The  Great  Harmonia,"  Volume  II,  entitled 
''The  Teacher,"  we  extract  the  following  (page 
250)  :  "I  consider  motion  the  first  manifestation  of 
mind — an  indication  of  the  Great  Mind  which  re- 
sides back  of,  and  in.   Nature;  and  a  prophetical 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     289 

indication  of  the  existence  of  a  corresponding  mind 
as  an  ultimate  or  perfection  of  Nature. 

'1  consider  Life  the  first  development  of  Motion, 
and  the  second  indication  of  intelligence. 

"I  consider  Sensation  the  first  development  of 
Life,  and  the  third  indication  of  future  or  ultimate 
Intelligence. 

*'I  consider  Intelligence  the  highest  development 
of  Motion,  Life,  and  Sensation,  and  a  perfect  mani- 
festation of  the  internal  living  and  unchangeable 
organization,  and  when  I  employ  the  terms  Soul, 
Spirit,  and  Mind,  I  mean  the  internal  and  immortal 
individual.  When  Motion,  Life,  Sensation,  and  In- 
telligence are  conjoined  and  organized,  I  term  that 
organization  a  unity  of  elements  and  attributes ;  and 
these  elements  and  attributes  arrange  according  to 
their  natural  order,  under  the  comprehensive  terms 
of  Love  and  Wisdom — terms  which  are  perfectly  ex- 
pressive of  the  natural  characteristics  and  legitimate 
manifestations  of  those  internal  principles.  There- 
fore, when  I  use  the  nouns  substantive — Soul,  Spirit, 
Mind,  and  Individual — the  thought  which  suggests 
their  employment  is  resting  invariably  upon  the  in- 
ward Homo,  upon  the  individual  Oneness,  which  is 
constructed  upon  those  principles  which  elevate  that 
oneness  above  the  plane  of  change  and  disorganiza- 
tion. Hence  the  question  is  answered  affirmatively 
— the  terms  are  unqualifiedly  synonymous." 

The  question  referred  to  was :  Are  Soul,  Spirit, 
and  Mind  synonymous  ?  —  one  which  is  so  fre- 
quently asked  to-day  that  we  selected  the  answer  to 
it  out  of  an  immense  variety  of  replies  to  all  sorts 
of  questions  put  to  A.  J.  Davis,  thinking  it  might 


290     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

serve  almost  better  than  any  other  to  elucidate  the 
philosophy  of  the  Poughkeepsie  Seer  in  his  own 
words. 

We  will  not  attempt  any  commentary  upon  the 
words  quoted,  because  we  desire  to  acquaint  our 
readers  with  what  a  truly  remarkable  seer  has  ut- 
tered, rather  than  to  put  any  gloss  of  our  own  upon 
his  words  by  argument  or  comparison.  Concern- 
ing the  final  destiny  of  the  individual  immortal 
human  entity,  Davis  says,  in  reply  to  a  query  thereon 
(page  254)  :  ''The  Spirit  will  have  no  'final  home'; 
because  to  an  immortal  being  rest  would  be  intoler- 
able— it  would  be  next  to  annihilation."  .  .  .  "But 
the  spirit  will  progress  eternally !  It  will  always  be 
in  harmony  with  surrounding  circumstances,  and 
thus  will  always  reside  in  heaven.  The  same  dif- 
ferences will  exist  in  future  spheres  of  life  as  exist 
in  this  world, — I  mean  those  differences  which  are 
established  by  the  real  intrinsic  perfection  of  the  con- 
stitution, education,  and  harmony  of  the  individual. 
But  the  spirit  will  walk  in  those  shining  paths  which 
angels  tread,  in  opening  communications  between  the 
celestial  inhabitants  of  celestial  spheres  and  those 
high-born  spirits  of  our  earth."  Only  one  more  quo- 
tation will  we  offer  from  the  vast  mass  of  material 
at  our  disposal,  as  the  object  of  this  essay  is  to  whet 
our  readers'  appetites  for  the  massive  volumes  from 
which  these  brief  excerpts  are  extracted.  This  last 
morsel  is  from  ''What  and  Where  is  God?"  (page 
270)  :  '^Surrounded  by  an  inconceivable  number  of 
forms  and  organizations, — each  one  of  them  occu- 
pying a  specific  and  progressive  position  in  Nature. — 
the  human  mind  can  but  perceive  that  the  cause  of 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     291 

them  must  be,  Himself,  an  infinite  Cause;  that  to 
produce  organizations  he  must  be,  Himself,  first. 
Intelligent ;  and  that  to  produce  an  infinite  machine, 
he  must  be.  Himself,  not  only  organized  and  intelli- 
gent, but  he  must  have  had  some  glorious  end  or 
result  to  accomplish,  according  to  which  his  Uni- 
versal Machinery  was  constructed.  Surely,  this  is 
plain  reasoning.  God,  therefore,  philosophically 
considered,  is  an  infinite  Cause ;  Nature  is  an  infinite 
Effect;  and  the  object,  for  the  accomplishment  of 
which  the  whole  was  thus  constituted,  is  the  infinite 
Use  or  End.  God  is  the  Great  Positive  Mind ; — all 
else  is  Negative."  Atheism  indeed  receives  no  sup- 
port from  Davis,  as  it  receives  none  from  any  of  the 
world's  spiritual  enlighteners ;  but  neither  does  any 
narrow  theology  receive  endorsement  —  an  all- 
embracing  God  is  the  only  real  Deity. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

bibIve:     symbousm — Aaron's     breastplate     and 

other  typical  ornaments  and  emblems 

the  moral  influence  of  beauty  and  the 
significance  of  color. 

Among  the  most  attractive  symbols  of  antiquity 
none  can  be  more  beautiful  and  expressive  than 
precious  stones,  and  these  have  always  figured  very 
largely  in  religious  ritual  as  well  as  in  secular  adorn- 
ment. Nowhere  in  the  Bible  can  we  find  a  more 
impressive  instance  of  the  use  of  glittering  gems  than 
in  the  breastplate  of  the  Jewish  high  priest,  Aaron, 
whose  adornments  are  minutely  described  in  the 
twenty-eighth  chapter  of  Exodus,  verses  15-21,  as 
follows :  ''Thou  shalt  make  the  breastplate  of  judg- 
ment with  cunning  work,  after  the  work  of  the 
ephod  thou  shalt  make  it ;  of  gold  and  of  blue,  and  of 
purple,  and  of  scarlet,  and  of  fine  twined  linen  shalt 
thou  make  it.  Four-square  it  sliall  be,  being  dou- 
bled ;  a  span  shall  be  the  length  thereof,  and  a  span 
shall  be  the  breadth  thereof.  And  thou  shalt  set  in 
it  settings  of  stones,  even  four  rows  of  stones;  the 
first  row  shall  be  a  sardis  (ruby),  a  topaz,  and  a 
carbuncle;  this  shall  be  the  first  row.  And  the  sec- 
ond row  shall  be  an  emerald,  a  sapphire,  and  a  dia- 
mond. And  the  third  row  a  ligure  (cyanus),  an 
agate,  and  an  amethyst.  And  the  fourth  row  shall 
be  a  beryl,  and  an  onyx,  and  a  jasper.     They  shall 

292 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     293 

be  set  in  gold  in  their  inclosings.  And  the  stones 
shall  be  with  the  names  of  the  Children  of  Israel, 
twelve,  according  to  their  names,  like  the  engrav- 
ings of  a  signet,  every  one  with  his  name  shall  they 
be  according  to  the  Twelve  Tribes."  This  magnifi- 
cent breastplate,  called  Urim  and  Thummim,  was 
regarded  in  ancient  sacerdotal  days  as  a  special 
instrument  for  obtaining  information  from  Heaven, 
a  fact  which  throws  much  light  upon  the  sacred 
magic  of  the  Israelites  of  old.  A  very  interesting 
and  elaborate  dissertation  concerning  this  breastplate 
is  contained  in  ''The  Science  of  Correspondences 
Elucidated,"  by  Edward  Madely  and  B.  F.  Barrett, 
in  which  the  authors  claim  that  we  have  a  key  to  its 
interior  significance  by  dividing  its  four  sections 
thus:  First  row  downward,  predominating  color. 
Red,  Celestial  Love  of  Good.  Second  row,  Reddish 
Blue,  Celestial  Love  of  Truth.  Third  row,  Whitish 
Blue,  Spiritual  love  of  Good.  Fourth  row,  Bluish 
White,  Spiritual  Love  of  Truth.  The  distinction 
here  made  so  definitely  between  Truth  and  Good  is  in 
strict  agreement  with  all  of  Swedenborg's  discrimi- 
nations, with  which  these  authors  are  in  complete 
accord,  and  we  shall  all  do  well  to  ponder  thought- 
fully exactly  wherein  the  difference  really  lies. 
Truth  is  of  the  enhghtened  understanding  and  ad- 
dresses itself  to  intellect,  to  reason  in  particular, 
while  Good  has  to  do  directly  with  our  affections, 
which,  though  intimately  associated  with  our  under- 
standing, are  nevertheless  distinct  from  it.  As  very 
great  interest  is  now  being  widely  taken  in  some  sup- 
posed connection  between  the  twelve  Signs  of  the 
Zodiac,  the  twelve  Tribes  of  Israel,  and  certain  pre- 


294     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

cious  stones,  our  readers  may  be  interested  to  know 
that  an  ancient  tradition  assigns  a  ruby  to  Reuben ; 
an  emerald  to  Judah ;  a  cyanus  (lapis-lazuli)  to  Gad ; 
a  turquoise  (beryl)  to  Zebulon;  a  topaz  to  Simeon; 
a  sapphire  to  Dan;  an  agate  to  Asher;  an  onyx  to 
Joseph ;  a  carbuncle  to  Levi ;  a  diamond  to  Naph- 
thali ;  an  amethyst  to  Issachar ;  a  jasper  to  Benjamin. 
Turning  to  Numbers,  Chapter  II,  we  find  the  follow- 
ing classification  of  the  twelve  Tribes,  with  their 
standard  bearers :  Judah  heads  the  three  tribes  to 
the  East ;  Reuben  to  the  South ;  Ephraim  to  the 
West ;  Dan  to  the  North ;  the  Camp  of  the  Levites 
and  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Congregation  being  in 
the  midst.  The  same  order  is  indicated  in  the  order 
of  march  described  in  the  same  book  (Chapter  X) 
when  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  is  carried  in  front 
of  the  army.  The  different  arrangements  at  vari- 
ous times,  and  in  altering  circumstances,  readily  sug- 
gests varying  significations  denoting  the  changing 
states  of  human  experience.  Red  stones  always 
occupy  the  place  of  highest  esteem,  because  red  is 
the  first  of  the  primaries  and  is  universal  in  its  cor- 
respondence, it  being  the  color  of  the  completed 
octave.  As  Adam  only  means  a  red  man,  and  red 
is  the  lowest  of  the  seven  prismatic  hues  according 
to  rate  of  vibration,  it  is  not  only  a  title  applied  to 
the  sensuous  man,  not  yet  awakened  to  spiritual  con- 
sciousness, but  is  equally  applied  to  those  who  are 
regenerated,  whom  we  designate  ''second  Adam," 
like  the  upper  A  which  commences  a  new  scale  in 
music.  ''Stones  of  Fire"  are  pften  mentioned  in  the 
Bible  in  connection  with  great  judgments  and  mighty 
deliverances,   which  are   frequently  referred  to  as 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     295 

preceded  by  "hailstones  and  coals  of  fire."  In  the 
extremely  fascinating  imagery  of  the  marvelous 
book  of  Ezekiel  we  find  allasions  to  precious  gems 
which  throw  a  large  amount  of  light  upon  their 
mystical  as  well  as  magical  significance.  By  the 
use  of  these  two  terms  in  the  above  connection  we 
mean  by  magical  all  that  pertains  to  the  working 
of  outward  wonders  by  the  employment  of  pre- 
scribed and  tested  ceremonial  rites;  by  mystical  we 
mean  interior  results  obtained  in  a  spiritual  manner 
without  any  recourse  to  ritual  of  any  description. 
The  mystical  method  is  very  much  higher  and  more 
abidingly  reliable  than  the  magical,  though  both  are 
mentioned  with  approbation  in  the  Bible,  each  being 
adapted  to  a  particular  stage  of  human  conscious 
susceptibility  to  Divine  and  Celestial  influxes.  In 
the  twenty-eighth  chapter  of  Ezekiel  we  are  told  that 
the  King  of  Tyre  has  been  in  Eden,  the  Garden  of 
God,  where  every  precious  stone  was  his  covering 
until  he  fell  into  iniquity  and  was  consequently 
expelled  and  dethroned.  When,  in  the  days  of  his 
moral  uprightness,  this  monarch  was  figuratively  on 
God's  holy  mountain  it  is  said  that  he  walked  to 
and  fro  amid  "stones  of  fire,"  at  which  time  he  was 
designated  "a  covering  cherub."  This  clearly  shows 
that  in  ancient  times  such  expressions  were  used  to 
denote  "high  offices  held  by  holy  people  who  were 
worthy  of  such  exalted  station,  and  not  permitted  to 
retain  it  in  any  case  after  they  had  disqualified  them- 
selves by  the  practice  of  unrighteousness.  Many 
people  to-day  are  asking  whether  any  value  attaches 
to  the  actual  wearing  of  gems,  or  whether  we  must 
attribute  all  alleged  and  seeming  efficacy  to  the  force 


296     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

of  auto-suggestion.  A  reasonable  reply  to  such 
enquiries  must  be  at  least  threefold.  First,  we  must 
remember  that  jewels  are  imprisoned  sunlight  and 
they  have  truly  a  force  of  their  own,  to  which 
highly  sensitive  people  are  peculiarly  susceptible ;  this 
is  a  demonstrable  scientific  proposition  which  can 
be  tested  and  proved  experimentally  by  Materialists 
as  readily  as  by  Occultists.  Second,  associations 
with  gems  are  extremely  permanent,  and  these  are 
psychical  as  well  as  physical,  as  psychometry  abun- 
dantly reveals ;  a  gem  is  extremely  retentive  of  any 
influence  it  has  absorbed,  and  many  precious  stones 
— opals  and  pearls  especially — are  very  susceptible 
to  the  condition  of  the  persons  who  wear  them. 
Third,  individual  taste  has  much  to  do  with  the 
effect  which  a  stone  will  have  on  its  wearer,  but 
tastes,  preferences  and  antipathies  are  revealers  of 
character  and  temperament,  and  unless  there  is  some 
very  forcible  extraneous  cause  for  our  likes  and 
dislikes  as  applied  to  gems  and  colors  we  invariably 
are  attracted  instinctively  to  those  stones  and  colors 
whose  vibrations  agree  with  us  and  help  us,  while 
we  are  similarly  repelled  by  such  as  either  over- 
stimulate  or  depress  us,  in  consequence  of  their  rate 
of  vibration  being  either  too  high  or  too  low  to  meet 
our  necessities.  The  High  Priest  in  ancient  Israel 
wore  a  breastplate  composed  of  twelve  precious 
stones  because  he  must  represent  all  the  twelve  tribes 
equally,  and  a  man  capable  of  filling  so  highly  repre- 
sentative a  position  worthily  must  be  beyond  the 
ordinary  run  of  attractions  and  repulsions.  A  thor- 
oughly balanced  man  or  woman  admires  all  beautiful 
objects  in  nature  and  in  art,  and  feels  at  home  with 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     297 

all  of  them,  at  the  same  time  understanding  their 
respective  uses  and  significances  and  employing  them 
accordingly.  Among  gems  the  diamond  is  the  most 
universally  admired  and  worn ;  this  is  largely  on 
account  of  its  bright  all-including  whiteness,  out  of 
which  every  brilliant  hue  can  sparkle  in  the  sunshine, 
and  also  in  artificial  radiance.  Almost  every  one 
feels  at  home  with  the  diamond,  just  as  we  are  all 
at  home  with  white,  while  different  limited  colors 
affect  us  differently  in  our  varying  moods  and  seem 
highly  appropriate  in  such  situations  as  demand 
them,  but  quite  out  of  place  in  other  circumstances, 
though  in  themselves  they  are  always  beautiful. 
There  is  not  the  slightest  reason  why  we  should  not 
avail  ourselves  of  the  beauty  of  nature,  and  surely 
nothing  can  be  more  unnatural  and  ridiculous  than 
to  dispense  with  all  adornment  when  nature  is  so 
lavishly  profuse  with  decoration,  and  it  requires  no 
more  time  or  effort,  in  the  long  run  at  any  rate,  to 
make  life  outwardly  as  well  as  inwardly  beautiful, 
than  it  does  to  peg  along  in  a  manner  calculated  to 
lower  instead  of  raise  the  tone  of  our  vitafity,  and 
thereby  lessen  instead  of  increase  our  working  capac- 
ity. Though  we  all  know  that  foolish  extravagance 
in  dress  and  adornment,  together  with  all  other 
forms  of  ostentatious  display,  are  not  productive  of 
desirable  results  in  human  society,  we  ought  not 
ever  to  be  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  sordid  ugli- 
ness and  crime  are  often  very  intimate  associates. 
John  Ruskin  never  hesitated  to  preach  his  gospel  of 
beauty  as  a  moral  elevator,  and  it  certainly  does 
appear  that,  on  an  average,  there  is  far  less  crime 
where  beauty  is  cultivated  than  where  ugliness  reigns 


2gS     Ancient  Aiysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

supreme.  Drunkenness  is  often  largely  due  to  a 
state  of  mental  dulness  bordering  on  despair.  Men 
and  women  work  in  dingy  workshops  and  live  in 
dingy  dwellings  unworthy  of  the  name  of  homes, 
and  with  what  result?  They  almost  invariably 
exhibit  signs  of  moral,  mental  and  physical  deterio- 
ration, and  are  very  rarely  as  cheerful  in  disposition 
or  as  optimistic  in  sentiment  as  those  who  surround 
themselves  with  more  attractive  objects.  We  may 
well  feel  compassion  and  express  sympathy  for  all 
who  are  apparently  compelled  to  live  in  gloomy 
places,  but  there  can  be  no  valid  excuse  for  delib- 
erately planting  ourselves  in  such  surroundings, 
except  for  the  benevolent  purpose  of  ministering  to 
those  who  are  incarcerated  therein.  When  we  have 
the  choice  of  circumstances  in  our  own  hands  it 
would  be  well  indeed  did  we  invariably  elect  to  sur- 
round ourselves  with  beauty,  and  it  was  originally 
intended  that  the  people  at  large  should  be  instructed 
in  this  lesson  by  beholding  the  extreme  beauty  of  the 
sacred  places  in  which  they  performed  acts  of  wor- 
ship. Those  who  seemingly  require  no  special  tem- 
ple and  no  officiating  priests  can  certainly  lift  their 
souls  in  aspiration  amid  the  glories  of  undisfigured 
natural  surroundings,  and  as  the  highest  compliment 
which  can  be  paid  to  any  artist  is  to  assure  him  that 
his  work  is  a  perfect  facsimile  of  nature,  we  can 
have  no  greater  beauty  even  in  structures  of  the  rar- 
est magnificence  than  we  behold  in  those  charming 
districts  of  the  world  where  natural  scenery  is 
allowed  to  remain  untampered  with.  The  Garden 
Cities  now  springing  up  in  England  are  exerting  a 
highly  beneficial  effect  upon  the  civilization  of  the 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     299 

country,  because  they  are  helping  people  to  get  fur- 
ther away  from  that  hideous  artificiality  which  has 
for  a  long  time  past  exerted  an  undermining  influ- 
ence upon  health  and  morals.  Rapid  transit  is  begin- 
ning to  prove  an  immense  benefit  to  multitudes  by 
making  it  quite  easy  for  men  of  family  to  transact 
business  in  the  centre  of  a  great  city  and  bring  up 
children  in  the  very  heart  of  a  lovely  country.  Dress 
as  well  as  circumstances  and  diet  receives  a  great 
deal  of  attention  in  the  Mosaic  Law,  and  not  only 
the  attire  of  those  who  are  set  apart  to  perform  pecu- 
liar religious  functions,  but  the  ordinary  costume  of 
the  masses,  receives  some  definite  notice.  It  is  an 
undeniable  fact  that  Jews  to-day,  as  a  community, 
are  very  fond  of  jewelry,  and  it  has  been  said  that 
the  very  word  jewel  pertains  to  Judaism.  Be  that 
as  it  may,  the  Old  Testament  lays  great  stress  on 
personal  adornment,  in  addition  to  cleanliness,  in 
many  imposing  instances,  and  in  so  doing  it  does  not 
show  itself  barbaric,  as  some  foolish  people  suppose, 
probably  because  all  unsophisticated  peoples  are,  like 
children,  fond  of  bright  colors  and  general  display ; 
but  in  this  matter,  as  in  very  many  others,  it  evinces 
singularly  deep  insight  into  what  is  conducive  to  gen- 
eral well-being. 

Colors  apart  from  jewels  (which,  however, 
embody  them  in  the  most  perfect  manner  and  to  the 
fullest  possible  degree)  have  a  value  and  exert  an 
influence  far  beyond  what  is  ordinarily  supposed. 
Dr.  Edwin  Babbitt,  in  his  famous  treatise,  "The 
Principles  of  Light  and  Color,"  has  given  out  an 
immense  amount  of  information  of  extreme  value, 
which  has  not  received  anything  like  the  degree  of 


300    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

attention  its  great  merit  richly  deserves,  though  we 
are  happy  to  say  that  the  large  illustrated  volume, 
rather  too  ponderous  for  general  reading,  has  found 
its  way  into  a  very  large  number  of  libraries  in 
many  lands,  and  we  have  good  evidence  that  it  has 
beneficently  influenced  the  practice  of  many  progres- 
sive doctors,  and  also  helped  many  sufferers  on  the 
road  to  recovery  by  explaining  to  them  a  rational, 
and  not  difficult,  mode  of  home  treatment.  In  any 
country  retreat  or  seaside  resort  it  ought  to  be  easy 
to  open  up  a  Solarium  and  apply  the  Light  and 
Color  treatment,  provided  a  director  can  be  found 
for  each  institution  who  really  understands  the  sci- 
ence of  the  system,  and  is  provided  with  an  adequate 
mechanical  equipment ;  and  even  without  a  full  sup- 
ply of  chromo-lenses  and  thermolumes,  a  great  deal 
of  useful  work  can  be  done  by  simply  fitting  up  a 
few  rooms  with  the  necessary  colored  window  glass. 
The  house  ought  to  be  so  situated  that  it  commands 
more  than  an  average  amount  of  sunlight,  and  the 
various  rooms — in  the  Northern  Hemisphere  with 
Southern,  and  in  the  Southern  Hemisphere  with 
Northern  exposures — should  be  equipped  with  col- 
ored windows,  always  kept  scrupulously  clean,  so 
that  the  special  rays  of  light  needed  in  different  con- 
ditions can  be  enjoyed  to  the  full  by  those  under- 
going treatment.  But  though  it  is  to  sunshine  pri- 
marily that  we  must  look  for  the  color  vibrations 
necessary,  we  have  in  electric  light  so  valuable  an 
adjunct  that  at  seasons  of  the  year  and  in  localities 
where  the  sunshine  is  often  very  limited  we  can 
arrange  electric  light  fixtures  so  that  we  obtain 
almost  the  same  results  by  night  as  by  day,  and  in 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     301 

cloudy  as  in  brilliant  weather.  A  thoroughly 
equipped  Solarium,  furnished  in  every  detail  in 
accordance  with  the  prescription  of  certain  highly 
trained  and  widely  experienced  Occultists,  would  be 
nothing  less  than  a  magnificent  Temple  of  the  Sun, 
in  which  patients  to-day  might  receive  treatment 
identical  with  that  which  made  many  an  ancient  tem- 
ple famous.  Multitudes  of  sufferers  all  over  the 
world  are  readily  amenable  to  Solaric  and  Electric 
treatment  simply  and  beautifully  administered,  and 
in  these  days  when  new  methods  are  eagerly  sought 
after  and  painstakingly  examined,  the  time  is  indeed 
opportune  for  a  revival  of  this  best,  simplest,  human- 
est  method  of  healing  through  direct  co-operation 
with  Nature  in  one  of  her  most  glorious  and  attrac- 
tive forms  the  world  has  ever  witnessed.  With  the 
rapidly  increasing  sensitiveness  of  the  present  gen- 
eration crude  methods  and  gross  remedies  are  pass- 
ing out  of  vogue;  there  is,  constantly,  a  loud  and 
imperative  call  for  measures  which  will  prove  effec- 
tive and  convincing  and  in  no  way  injure  or  terrify 
nervous  invalids.  In  Solaric  treatment,  accompanied 
by  wise  and  beneficent  Suggestion,  we.  find  exactly 
what  our  age  requires,  viz.,  a  Psycho-Physical 
method  which  embraces  a  reasonable  appeal  to  the 
mind  and  also  satisfies  a  widespread  demand  for 
something  which  can  be  readily  comprehended  by 
persons  who  have  not  grown  to  a  state  where  they 
can  be  fully  satisfied  with  methods  exclusively  meta- 
physical. Nature  everywhere  employs  Form, 
Sound,  and  Color;  we  are,  therefore,  thoroughly  in 
accord  with  Nature  if  we  avail  ourselves  of  these 
three  great  aids  to  harmony,  which  were  all  acknowl- 


302     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

edged  and  employed  by  the  greatest  healers  of  an- 
tiquity, whose  marvelous  achievements  stand  out 
to-day  on  the  pages  of  world-wide  history,  not  only 
challenging  our  attention  and  exciting  our  wonder, 
but  bidding  us  drink  from  the  same  overflowing  nat- 
ural fountain  from  which  they  drank  so  wisely  and 
so  copiously,  that  we  too  may  demonstrate  in  our 
age,  as  they  did  in  theirs,  the  boundlessness  of  the 
supply  furnished  to  us  by  the  glorious  central  lumin- 
ary which  is  the  agent  of  all  our  life  and  the  active 
sustainer  of  all  growth  and  beauty. 

The  seven  prismatic  hues  may  be  regarded  as  four 
landings  and  three  stairways,  symbolically  speaking. 
Red  is  the  first  floor.  Yellow  the  second.  Blue  the 
third,  Violet  the  fourth.  Orange  is  the  first  stair- 
case. Green  the  second.  Indigo  the  third.  Red 
always  excites  the  physical  system  and  can  be  most 
advantageously  employed  to  antidote  all  sluggish  and 
costive  conditions.  Orange  is  less  physically  stimu- 
lating than  Red,  and  as  it  inclines  toward  Yellow, 
which  stimulates  intellectual  activity,  it  is  extremely 
useful  in  those  numerous  instances  where  a  mild 
tonic  and  pu^-gative  is  required  for  mind  and  body 
at  once.  Yellow  is,  par  excellence,  an  excitant  of  the 
intellect  and  it  exercises  a  cooling,  refreshing,  and 
mildly  stimulating  efTect  upon  those  whose  work 
requires  constant  and  diligent  attention  to  intellec- 
tual pursuits.  Green  is  the  home  color  of  our  planet, 
and  standing  in  the  middle  of  the  scale  is  a  correc- 
tive of  nostalgia  and  a  most  harmonizing  and  tran- 
quilizing  color  to  employ  in  all  places  where  many 
people  exhibiting  diverse  characteristics  are  required 
to  congregate.     Blue  is  the  decidedly  ethical  har- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     303 

monizer  and  is  to  be  specially  recommended  in  all 
cases  where  passions  are  too  easily  excited  and  where 
material  objects  exert  too  great  a  sway.  This  color 
is  a  soporific,  a  true  conqueror  of  insomnia  and  nerv- 
ous headaches ;  fevers  yield  to  its  tranquilizing  influ- 
ence, as  its  action  is  to  cool  the  blood,  lower  the 
pulse,  and  generally  soothe  senses  while  tending  to 
free  the  mind  from  anxiety  and  worry,  leaving  it 
free  to  engage  in  the  profitable  contemplation  of 
ideal  conditions.  Purple  (or  Indigo)  excites  toward 
spiritual  contemplation  and  always  suggests  intellec- 
tual, coupled  with  moral,  dignity.  Violet  is  the  spir- 
itual color,  par  excellence,  and  it  is  found  extremely 
effective  in  aiding  well-conducted  psychic  experi- 
ments. To  fit  up  a  private  solarium  is  not  very 
expensive,  as  only  eight  rooms  are  necessary,  though 
we  can  easily  add  profitably  to  their  number.  One 
room  must  have  clear  white  glass,  as  white  is  the 
common  unifier,  and  the  other  seven  chambers  must 
have  respectively  one  each  of  the  seven  prismatics. 
A  ninth  room  for  the  introduction  of  Rose  Pink 
would  be  a  great  advantage,  as  this  lovely  color, 
though  not  one  of  the  mystic  seven,  is  of  immense 
value  in  counteracting  despondency  and  all  pessimis- 
tic tendencies.  Pink  is  the  color  of  hope,  and  quite 
often  light  streaming  through  pink  windows  or  elec- 
tric light  globes  will  drive  away  all  tendency  to 
gloom  and  to  despair,  and  so  invigorate  a  melan- 
choly sufferer  as  to  go  far  to  prevent  insanity  and 
suicide.  We  trust  that  these  few  hints  on  Color 
Treatment  will  serve  to  awaken  increased  interest 
in  this  momentous  theme,  which  needs  to  be  pursued 
indefinitely. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

UI^K  AND   MATTER THE  LATEST  VIEWS  ON  EVOLU- 
TION— POSITION    OF    SIR    OLIVER    LODGE. 

Among  modern  thinkers  of  high  repute  in  the 
Enghsh-speaking  sections  of  the  scientific  world 
scarcely  any  name  stands  out  more  prominently  at 
present  than  that  of  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  the  distin- 
guished president  of  Birmingham  University  in  Eng- 
land. Standing,  as  this  conspicuous  educator  does, 
in  the  very  front  rank  of  modern  teachers, — who 
while  strictly  scientific  have  also  a  deep  regard  for 
the  noblest  elements  in  religion, — this  truly  learned 
man  presents  us  with  far  more  moderate  views  of 
the  general  doctrine  of  evolution  than  we  need  ever 
expect  to  find  in  the  writings  of  materialistic  evolu- 
tionists like  Haeckel  on  the  one  hand  and  conserva- 
tive theologians  on  the  other.  The  present  atti- 
tude taken  to  Charles  Darwin,  as  evidenced  during 
the  celebration  at  Cambridge  in  1909,  shows  that  the 
foolish  idolatry  which  was  at  one  time  lavished  on 
that  great  biologist's  writings  by  his  fervid  admir- 
ers, equally  with  the  absurd  denunciation  of  his 
views  poured  forth  by  his  vituperative  opponents, 
has  pfactically  died  away,  and  given  place  to  a  much 
fairer  and  milder  estimate  of  the  great  scientist  and 
his  remarkable  discoveries.    There  was  a  time  when 

304 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     305 

the  theory  of  evolution  was  regarded  with  horror 
by  the  Church  of  England,  and  hailed  with  delight 
by  professing  atheists,  who  thought  they  found  in 
it  complete  confirmation  of  their  denial  of  Deity. 
But  all  such  views  have  now  been  relegated  to  the 
limbo  of  forgetfulness,  at  least  in  scientific  circles; 
though  they  still  survive  among  the  unthinking  and 
the  illiterate.  Darwin  himself  was  never  dogmatic, 
and  he  repeatedly  warned  the  public  against  accept- 
ing as  final  theories  which  he  put  forth  tentatively. 
He  was,  however,  very  positive  in  his  declaration  of 
ascertained  facts,  and  he  always  contended  that  the 
only  reasonable  method  of  dealing  with  facts  was 
to  allow  them  to  speak  for  themselves,  regardless  of 
any  theories  which  might  stand  in  the  way  of  their 
impartial  investigation.  Prof.  Alfred  Russel  Wal- 
lace, who  was  quite  independently  a  co-discoverer 
with  Darwin  of  many  important  facts  bearing 
directly  on  the  theory  of  evolution  is  a  confirmed 
Spiritualist,  while  Darwin  was  a  confessed  agnostic. 
This  circumstance  is  quite  sufficient  to  show  that 
the  theory  of  evolution,  even  when  accepted  in  its 
entirety  as  it  is  by  Wallace,  does  not  by  any  means 
preclude  a  studious  observer  of  natural  phenomena 
■^rom  keeping  a  perfectly  open  mind  with  reference  to 
evidences  concerning  other  planes  of  existence  than 
the  physical ;  natural  facts  of  a  material  character 
neither  serving  to  confirm  or  deny  the  reality  of  a 
spiritual  universe.  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  is  far  less 
agnostic  than  Darwin  and  less  spiritualistic  than 
Wallace,  his  position  being  that  of  an  earnest  stu- 
dent of  psychic  phenomena  whose  general  attitude 
to  all  things  super-physical  remains  to  an  extent 


3o6     Ancient -Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

indefinite,  i.  c,  from  the  standpoint  of  those  who 
consider  nothing  definite  unless  it  be  incontestably 
dogmatic.  We  may  safely  say  that  a  truly  scientific 
attitude  of  mind,  being  always  open  to  evidence  and 
constantly  engaged  in  experimentation,  must  of 
necessity  consider  a  great  many  questions  as  remain- 
ing always  open;  for  if  we  are  continually  learning 
more  and  more  of  Nature's  processes,  we  are  com- 
pelled often  to  take  and  hold  hypothetical  positions 
on  our  way  to  ultimately  certain  conclusions;  and 
even  certainties  are  not  finally  final,  for  there  is 
always  something  yet  to  be  discovered  which  may 
throw  fresh  light  upon  questions  we  may  now  con- 
sider definitely  settled.  Though  this  position  is  very 
unsatisfactory  to  minds  which  long  to  rest  in  com- 
pleted certainties,  to  the  truly  inquiring  intellect  this 
constant  search  for  added  knowledge  constitutes 
life's  chief  delight,  and  it  is  certainly  quite  consistent 
with  the  ennobling  thought  that  this  world  is  a  school 
in  which  we  are  being  gradually  educated  to  prepare 
us  for  higher  seminaries  when  we  have  graduated 
from  this  particular  college  in  the  universe. 

There  are  certain  sublime  statements  expressed  in 
noble  poetry,  such  as  Whittier's  splendid  couplet: 
"Step  by  step  since  time  began  We  see  the  steady 
gain  of  man,"  which  harmonize  exactly  with  all 
reasonable  views  of  evolution  now  entertained  and 
promulgated  by  the  world's  leading  intellects  who 
are  devoting  themselves  to  ever-enlarging  research 
into  the  mysteries  of  Nature.  Such  a  title  for  a 
book  as  ''Life  and  Matter,"  at  once  challenges  atten- 
tion, because  it  distinctly  separates  the  idea  of  Life 
from  the  thought  of  Matter,  thereby  carrying  us 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     307 

back  to  the  earliest  and  most  satisfying  view  of  the 
unchanging  relationship  between  the  two.  Life  is 
the  acting  power ;  Matter  is  the  substance  acted  upon, 
and  it  is  through  Matter  of  some  grade  or  other 
that  life  is  made  manifest.  Such  in  brief  is  the  con- 
sensus of  modern  scientific  as  well  as  theosophical 
teachings.  Matter  can  be  of  many  grades,  or  planes, 
therefore  we  are  not  left  to  restrict  the  use  of  the 
word  to  the  gross  matter  of  the  physical  aspects  of 
our  globe.  Once  let  this  proposition  be  fully  estab- 
lished and  all  difficulty  vanishes  when  we  are  endeav- 
oring to  consider  substantial  worlds  beyond  as  well 
as  within  the  limit  of  our  ordinary  physical  senses. 
Psychical  Research,  in  which  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  has 
long  taken  very  prominent  part,  has  thoroughly  con- 
vinced him,  as  it  has  also  convinced  many  other 
prominent  scientists,  that  telepathy,  mental  telegra- 
phy, clairvoyance,  and  much  else  commonly  regarded 
as  mystical  may  be  after  all  quite  as  natural  and 
orderly  as  those  more  generally  accepted  uses  of 
mental  faculty  with  which  the  public  at  large  has 
already  become  much  more  familiar.  We  are  con- 
stantly making  fresh  discoveries  concerning  our 
inner  selves  which  are  adding  considerably  to  our 
self-knowledge.  We  have  looked  upon  ourselves  for 
so  long  as  confined  within,  very  narrow  fields  of 
action  that  we  are  naturally  surprised,  and  to  some 
extent  bewildered,  when  we  come  to  find  out  that  no 
such  limits  need  necessarily  confine  us.  Every  fresh 
scientific  discovery  and  mechanical  invention  com- 
pels us  to  set  to  work  to  readjust  our  views  of 
human  capacity,  and  by  the  time  we  have  become 
thoroughly  accustomed  to  the  achievements  of  the 


3o8     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

present  day,  we  have  admitted  very  much  that  our 
not  very  remote  ancestors  would  have  considered 
either  incredible  or  supernatural.  The  scientific 
world  does  not  attempt  to  draw  any  definite  line 
between  natural  and  supernatural,  because  it  humbly 
confesses  that  it  has  by  no  means  reached  a  perfect 
knowledge  of  the  natural;  and  until  one  has  done 
this,  and  knows  that  he  has  done  it,  it  is  self- 
evidently  absurd  for  him  to  talk  about  what  lies 
beyond  nature.  The  wise  expression,  "different 
planes  of  nature,"  used  frequently  by  Annie  Besant 
in  her  highly  instructive  book,  *'The  Changing 
World,"  suffices  to  convey  the  idea  that  our  present 
mental  evolution  is  opening  up  before  us  some  con- 
siderable knowledge  of  other  grades  of  matter  than 
those  acknowledged  by  old  school  materialists,  who 
in  the  face  of  all  evidence  in  support  of  psychic  expe- 
riences simply  waived  the  whole  question  aside  as 
one  pertaining  to  a  mixture  of  humbug  and  halluci- 
nation. Sir  Oliver  Lodge  speaks  of  "would-be 
materialists,"  and  of  Haeckel's  "conjectural  philoso- 
phy," and  he  goes  very  far  to  prove  that  much  has 
been  accepted  in  Germany  and  elsewhere  as  demon- 
strated science  which  actually  rests  on  no  firm  scien- 
tific foundation.  In  a  chapter  entitled  "Monism" 
he  says :  "Between  science  and  philosophy  there  need 
be  no  permanent  barrier,  nor  need  it  be  regarded  as 
otherwise  than  permissible  for  a  man  of  science  occa- 
sionally to  look  over  into  the  philosophic  region  and 
survey  the  territory  on  that  side  also,  so  far  as  his 
means  permit.  And  if  philosophers  object  to  this 
procedure  it  must  be  because  they  have  found  by 
experience  that  men  of  science  who  have  once  trans- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     309 

cended  or  transgressed  the  boundary  are  apt  to  lose 
all  sense  of  reasonable  constraint  and  to  disport 
themselves  as  if  they  had  at  length  escaped  into  a 
region  free  from  scientific  trammels — a  region 
where  confident  assertions  might  be  freely  made 
where  speculative  hypothesis  might  rank  as  theory 
and  where  verification  was  both  unnecessary  and 
impossible." 

Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  after  the  above  opening  para- 
graphs, goes  on  to  review  Haeckel's  views  quite  rad- 
ically, and  soon  proceeds  to  prove  the  inconsisten- 
cies of'  that  eminent  German  advocate  of  Scientific 
Monism,  who  now  complains  that  many  of  his  for- 
mer colleagues  have  deserted  him,  and  he  in  his 
advancing  age  is  left  as  an  almost  solitary  witness 
for  a  position  which  was  extremely  popular  in  the 
earlier  days  of  the  controversy  pertaining  to  evolu- 
tion. "The  Riddle  of  the  Universe,"  considered  by 
many  readers  to  be  Haeckel's  masterpiece,  contains  a 
vast  amount  of  valuable  as  well  as  interesting  mat- 
ter, and  on  the  question  of  the  rights  of  animals  this 
veteran  takes  ground  almost  identical  with  that  occu- 
pied by  the  great  bulk  of  professed  Theosophists. 
It  is  only  where  he  is  negational  that  his  views  come 
sharply  into  collision  with  those  of  nature  students, 
who,  while  fully  appreciating  the  values  and  beau- 
ties of  the  external  aspects  of  the  universe,  are  at  the 
same  time  keenly  alive  to  the  yet  sublimer  wonders 
and  more  expansive  glories  of  regions  undiscover- 
able  by  simply  physical  investigations.  Life,  accord- 
ing to  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  is  "a  guiding  and  directing 
principle,"  and  he  very  pertinently  asks  us  to  con- 
sider ''whether  guidance  and  intelligent  direction  are 


310     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

really  possible,  or  whether  everything  proceeds 
according  to  some  blind  necessity  from  which  will 
and  purpose  are  altogether  excluded."  It  is  when 
discussing  the  difficult  and  intricate  question  of 
human  free-agency  that  this  ripe  thinker  contributes, 
in  our  judgment,  a  particularly  valuable  contribu- 
tion to  modern  thought.  On  that  vexed  problem  he 
says:  "Life  is  something  outside  the  scheme  of 
mechanics — outside  the  categories  of  matter  and 
energy;  though  it  can  nevertheless  control  or  direct 
material  forces — timing  them  and  determining  their 
place  of  application — subject  always  to  the  laws  of 
energy  and  all  other  mechanical  laws  ;  supplementing 
or  accompanying  these  laws,  therefore,  but  contra- 
dicting or  traversing  them  no  whit." 

From  the  foregoing  we  can  readily  trace  an  atti- 
tude of  mind  very  similar  to  that  of  nearly  all  Theo- 
osophists,  whose  particular  contribution  to  philos- 
ophy is  the  stress  laid  by  them  on  the  incessant 
orderly  activity  of  intelligent  entities  on  other  planes 
of  Nature  than  the  physical ;  it  being  asserted  uncom- 
promisingly that  just  as  we  on  earth  have  limited 
and  ever-increasing  ability  to  direct  exterior  nature, 
but  never  except  through  the  agency  of  unvarying 
law,  so  on  the  other  side  of  the  veil  of  sense,  where 
clairvoyance  may  sometimes  penetrate,  intelligent 
entities  more  powerful,  because  wiser  than  we,  are 
manipulating  events  precisely  as  we  manipulate 
them,  so  far  as  necessary  conformity  with  law  is 
concerned,  but  in  consequence  of  far  greater  ac- 
quaintanceship with  law,  manifesting  ability  to  pro- 
duce results  very  far  transcending  all  we  can  yet 
accomplish. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  LAW  OF  SEVEN  AND  THE  LAW  OP  UNITY. 

In  a  curious  old  book  of  Arcane  Teachings  we 
find  the  sevenfold  idea  carried  out  with  great  wealth 
of  detail,  particularly  as  regards  the  Seven  Cosmic 
Laws  which  regulate  the  Universe,  at  all  events  so 
far  as  humanity  on  earth  has  yet  discovered  them. 
These  Seven  Laws  are  enumerated  in  the  following 
definite  order : 

1.  Law  of  Orderly  Trend,  under  the  operation  of 
which  order  is  universally  made  manifest  from  the 
groupings  of  atoms  in  the  formation  of  the  minutest 
organism  to  the  arrangement  of  planetary  bodies  in 
the  constitution  of  gigantic  Solar  Systems. 

2.  Law  of  Analogy,  through  the  operation  of 
which  we  can  trace  a  perfect  agreement,  or  exact 
correspondence,  between  all  forms  of  manifestation 
in  whatsoever  direction  we  may  investigate.  What 
is  true  of  Matter  is  likewise  true  of  Energy  and 
Mind.  The  great  Hermetic  axiom,  "As  above,  so 
below,"  is  revealed  through  the  changeless  opera- 
tion of  this  everywhere-to-be-discovered  law.  An 
ancient  Arcane  axiom,  "Ex  Uno  disce  Omnes"  (By 
the  discovery  of  one,  learn  thou  of  all)  applies 
throughout  esoteric  or  occult  teaching  to  all  those 
diverse  but  intimately  inter-related  plans  of  Nature 

311 


312     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

concerning  which  so  much  is  written  in  the  popular 
Theosophical  literature  of  to-day. 

3.  Law  of  Sequence,  in  which  is  included  all  activ- 
ities grouped  under  the  general  heading  *'Cause  and 
Effect."  This  is  the  Karmic  Law,  the  basis  of  Lex 
Talionis,  or  Law  of  Retaliation,  which  certainly 
does  manifest  itself  throughout  the  Universe,  despite 
the  frantic  endeavors  of  humanity  to  evade  its  oper- 
ation. Nothing  can  occur  by  chance,  there  must  be 
an  efficient  precedent  for  every  consequent ;  nothing 
stands  alone,  therefore  no  act  can  be  rightly  looked 
upon  as  isolated. 

4.  Law  of  Rhythm,  through  the  incessant  work- 
ing of  which. depends  the  variety  manifested  in  the 
Cosmos.  Everything  is  perpetually  vibrating.  To 
understand  how  to  regulate  vibration  is  to  possess 
the  Key  to  relatively  unlimited  power. 

5.  Law  of  Balance,  by  means  of  which  is  found 
the  true  explanation  of  equilibrium,  or  compensa- 
tions. To  understand  the  working  of  this  Law  is  to 
know  the  secret  of  Power  and  Poise. 

6.  Law  of  Cyclicity,  which  causes  all  things  to 
move  in  Circles.  Teachers  of  Arcane  Science  tell  us 
that  the  wise  and  strong  convert  circles  into  spirals, 
and  therefore  instead  of  moving  continually  round 
and  round,  they  rise  in  spirals,  thus  accomplishing 
those  wonderful  achievements  which  mark  off 
Adepts  or  Initiates  from  the  multitude  of  their 
contemporaries. 

7.  Law  of  Opposites,  which  is  universally 
expressed  in  male  and  female,  thesis  and  antithesis 
In  the  knowledge  of  this  law  is  to  be  found  the 
great  magical  secret  of  regeneration  which  is  essen- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     313 

tially  identical  with  transmutation  and  transubstan- 
tiation.  The  practical  object  and  boundless  result  of 
understanding  and  applying  these  Seven  Laws  (or 
to  speak  still  more  accurately,  seven  manifestations 
of  One  Law)  is  to  enable  those  who  have  attained 
this  Knowledge  to  accomplish  Magnum  Opus 
through  the  joint  activity  of  the  will  and  intellect 
of  the  operator.  Herein  lies  the  Key  to  an  actual 
demonstration  of  those  transcendent  abilities  which 
are  so  largely  claimed  by  many  modern  teachers 
who,  though  their  theories  are  sound  and  excellent, 
do  not  as  a  rule  succeed  in  making  any  very  startling 
dem'onstrations  of  unusual  power  over  environment. 
The  four  following  aphorisms  are  worthy  of  the 
deepest  consideration : 

1.  The  One  Law  is. 

2.  There  is  naught  higher  or  elder  than  the  One 
Law. 

3.  The  One  Law  is  Absolute,  beyond  Time,  Space 
and  Change,  transcending  the  Three  Principles  and 
Seven  Laws. 

4.  The  One  Law  is  the  Efficient  Reason  of  All- 
Things. 

To  consider  these  four  aphorisms  deeply  and  in 
detail  would  necessitate  very  profound  study  and 
the  expenditure  of  much  time  and  mental  energy, 
but  any  student  who  will  devote  time  and  solitude 
to  such  deep  and  profitable  meditation  will  surely  be 
amply  repaid  both  as  regards  mental  illumination 
and  increased  ability  to  govern  circumstances.  The 
doctrine  of  Determinism  taught  in  Arcane  Philoso- 
phy is  quite  at  variance  witli  Fatalism,  Pessimism 
and  all  other  abnormal  and  corrupted  systems  which 


314     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

have  owed  their  origin  to  garbled  and  distorted  views 
concerning  the  operation  of  the  changeless  order  of 
the  Universe.  No  special  event  is  divinely  prede- 
termined, foreordained,  or  predestined,  but  there  is 
a  sequence  of  causes  and  effects  which  no  human 
power  can  vary.  It  is  our  reliance  upon  this  very 
steadfastness  of  Nature  which  renders  scientific 
progress  possible,  for  without  reasonable  certainty 
that  we  shall  reap  according  to  our  sowing  there 
could  be  no  rational  engagement  in  any  branch  of 
enterprise. 

Among  the  strikingly  unique  expressions 
employed  by  teachers  of  Arcane  Philosophy,  we  find 
not  the  familiar  Bx Nihilo  nihil  fit  (out  of  nothing  is 
made  nothing)  but  Bx  Nihilo  Omnis  fit  (out  of  No- 
Thing  all  things  are  formed).  This  No-Thing  of 
the  Alchemists  signifies  original  Cosmic  Substance, 
unparticled,  undifferentiated,  from  which  all  ex- 
pressed objects  proceed  and  into  which  they  will  at 
some  time  and  in  some  way  return.  Such  archaic 
teachings  as  these,  coming  from  the  wise  instructors 
of  our  race  in  times  of  old,  harmonize  at  every 
point  with  all  those  marvelous  and  fascinating  sci- 
entific revelations  which  characterize  the  vigorous 
enterprise  of  the  present  (twentieth)  century.  What, 
we  may  well  ask,  is  meant  by  Matter  when  modern 
scientists  declare  that,  to  the  best  of  their  knowledge, 
it  is  but  a  combination  of  ions  or  electrons?  What, 
again,  we  may  enquire  has  become  of  the  stupid  old 
materialism  which  was  more  difficult  to  grasp  than 
even  the  wildest  theological  fantasies,  if  mind  and 
life  are  traceable  in  all  discovered  substances  from 
protoplasm    to    the    human    fratne?      Substance, 


Ancient  Mysteries  atid  Modern  Revelations.     315 

Motion,  Consciousness,  are  the  three  Principles  we 
encounter  everywhere.  We  are  living  not  in  a  dead 
but  in  a  living,  not  in  an  unconscious  but  in  a  con- 
scious universe  in  which  death  is  only  change  of 
expression  an^l  birth  but  assumption  of. some  new 
garment. 

As  we  are  properly  far  more  intensely  interested 
in  our  human  development  and  in  the  exercise  of 
dominion  over  our  environment  than  in  any  abstruse 
or  abstract  dissertations  concerning  the  constitution 
of  the  Universe,  we  only  follow  the  path  of  wisdom 
when  our  studies  of  the  profound  Mystery  of  Uni- 
versal Law  lead  us  to  apply  the  truths  we  intellec- 
tually grasp  to  the  constant  betterment  of  our  actual 
conditions. 

For  many  centuries  in  India  mighty  philosophic 
concepts  have  been  tacitly  admitted  by  multitudes 
who  have  altogether  failed  to  make  practical  appli- 
cation of  the  philosophy  contained  in  Upanishats, 
Bhagavat-Gita,  and  other  holy  treatises  venerated, 
often  superstitiously,  but  seldom  made  use  of  in  the 
only  way  which  leads  to  the  elevation  of  a  nation. 
Western  ''hustle"  together  with  Eastern  laisse:;  faire 
make  an  excellent  combination,  but  one  without  the 
other  is  so  unbalanced  that  it  must  inevitably  lead  to 
stolid  resignation  to  a  supposed  inevitable  or  else 
to  frantic  hysterical  endeavors  to  force  results  with- 
out regard  to  the  orderly  working  of  evolutionary 
development. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

SPIRITUALISM    AND    THE    DEEPENING    OE    SPIRITUAL, 
LIFE. 

This  great  topic  immediaely  invites  two  important 
questions :  First,  what  are  we  to  understand  by 
SpirituaHsm?  Second,  what  is  meant  by  the  deep- 
ening of  our  spiritual  Hfe? 

In  reply  to  the  first  inquiry  it  seems  safe  to  say 
that  the  irreducible  minimum  of  agreement  among 
Spiritualists  is  the  simple  declaration  that  we  are 
here  and  now  spiritual  entities,  and  being  such  sur- 
vive the  change  commonly  called  death.  Though 
this  direct  and  widely  inclusive  statement  is  common 
to  all  who  call  themselves  Spiritualists,  it  by  no 
means  covers  the  entire  ground  of  spiritual  philoso- 
phy. It  is,  indeed,  little  more  than  an  introduction 
to  it,  for  Spiritualism  is  so  immensely  wide  in  its 
ever-extending  ramifications  that  there  is  scarcely 
a  topic  engaging  human  attention  which  does  not 
come  legitimately  within  the  embrace  of  its 
implications. 

There  can  be  but  three  systems  of  philosophy 
appealing  to  thinkers:  Spiritualism,  Materialism, 
and  Agnosticism.  Materialism  is  practically  dead 
in  scientific  circles ;  the  ground  is,  therefore,  virtually 
left  to  Spiritualists  and  Agnostics,  who  are  now 

316 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     317 

pretty  evenly  dividing  intellectual  territory.  Of 
these  two  philosophical  systems,  one  (Spiritualism) 
is  decidedly  affirmative,  the  other  (Agnosticism) 
avowedly  indefinite;  and  because  of  the  incontro- 
vertible fact  that  all  human  knowledge  is  only  rela- 
tive, there  must  always  remain  some  place  for  a  con- 
fession of  ignorance  on  some  questions,  together 
with  a  most  positive  enunciation  of  knowledge  con- 
cerning other  matters.  No  intelligent  man  or 
woman  can  be  exclusively  either  gnostic  or  agnostic, 
but  there  are  many  thoughtful  persons  whose  intel- 
lectual position  is  one  of  wise  caution,  who  do  not 
hesitate  to  avow  their  positive  conviction  that  the 
fundamental  propositions  of  Spiritualism  are  fully 
demonstrable. 

By  reason  of  the  exceeding  wideness  of  the  ground 
which  must  be  traversed,  many  eminent  men  of  sci- 
ence, including  Sir  William  Crookes,  are  indisposed 
to  speak  as  fervently  on  the  side  of  pronounced 
Spiritualism  as  the  no  less  famous  Dr.  Alfred  Rus- 
sel  Wallace,  a  circumstance  which  may  be  jointly 
attributed  to  varying  degrees  of  first-hand  evidence 
and  to  difference  in  natural  mental  predilection  in  the 
case  of  these  equally  distinguished  scientists.  We 
should  always  keep  before  us,  in  every  discussion, 
the  important  fact  that  phenomena  appealing 
strongly  in,  the  most  favorable  manner  to  one  type 
of  mind  may  prove  actually  distasteful  to  another 
type;  this  alone  suffices  to  account  for  those  dia- 
metrically opposed  statements  which  we  constantly 
encounter  over  illustrious  signatures.  To  some  peo- 
ple the  thought  of  physical  manifestations,  ranging 
from  *Vaps"  to  ^'materializations,"  is  far  from  accep- 


3i8     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

table.  They  have  no  hope  or  desire  that  such  phe- 
nomena may  genuinely  occur,  while  to  many  others, 
equally  intelligent,  these  manifestations  carry  defi- 
nite convictions  and  are  sources  of  considerable  com- 
fort and  joy.  Unless  we  can  approach  so  great  a 
subject  as  Spiritualism  without  prejudice  or  predi- 
lection of  any  sort,  we  are  apt  to  be  imwittingly 
unjust  at  some  point  in  our  investigations.  Only 
the  thoroughly  fair-miiided,  be  they  statesmen,  sci- 
entists, clergymen  or  conjurors,  are  really  competent 
to  so  investigate  as  to  reach  conclusions  which  will 
prove  of  genuine  importance.  Probably  for  this 
very  reason  much  controversy  is  still  raging,  practi- 
cally all  over  the  world,  concerning  the  use  and  value 
of  Spiritualism,  granted  that  its  basic  claims  be  rea- 
sonably established. 

Our  present  theme  necessitates  an  excursion  into 
moral  fields,  into  distinctively  ethical  as  well  as  intel- 
lectual pasture-ground,  for  to  ''deepen  spiritual  life" 
must  certainly  mean  vastly  more  than  to  convince 
the  intellect  of  the  survival  of  the  human  individual 
beyond  physical  dissolution.  The  first  momentous 
question  to  be  raised  concerning  any  philosophy  that 
we  are  invited  to  investigate  is.  What  does  it  teach 
concerning  human  nature?  As  we  are  all  human 
beings,  that  is  the  chief  fundamental  question  of 
importance.  As  a  candidate  for  general  acceptance 
among  philanthropists,  Spiritualism  has  always  this 
to  commend  it,  that  it  elevates  the  idea  of  human  life 
far  beyond  the  level  of  materialistic  negation,  and 
it  also  disowns  those  mistaken  views  of  religion 
which  teach  the  depravity  rather  than  the  nobility 
of  the  root-nature  common  to  us  all.    As  "psychical 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     319 

research"  continues,  it  is  constantly  bringing  to  light 
more  and  more  evidence  of  the  amazing  greatness  of 
the  life  we  are  living  now  and  here,  and  so  great 
has  been  the  recent  addition  to  the  sum  of  our 
knowledge  of  psychology  that  the  ''subjective  mind," 
or  ''sub-sel-f,"  is  responsible  for  many  psychic  mar- 
vels which  before  the  days  of  Thomson  Jay  Hud- 
son and  his  successors  were  compactly  attributed 
to  the  action  of  our  ''departed"  friends.  Such  a 
statement,  though  possessed  of  some  superficial  plau- 
sibility, is  by  no  means  either  radical  or  rational 
when  sifted  to  its  foundations  or  carried  forward  to 
its  ultimates,  for  instead  of  added  knowledge  con- 
cerning our  own  nature  in  the  present  world  destroy- 
ing the  thought  of  spiritual  communion,  every  addi- 
tional discovery  in  the  realm  of  telepathic  and  kin- 
dred action  only  goes  to  prove  how  spiritual  inter- 
course is  actually  effected  between  living  entities  as 
at  present  situated.  We  are  discovering  and  apply- 
ing certain  hitherto  unknown  possibilities  resident 
within  us.  We  find  we  are  able  to  send  and  receive 
mental  telegrams,  cablegrams,  and  aerograms,  seem- 
ingly without  respect  to  physical  distance,  but  always 
in  accord  with  some  mysterious  law  which  we  as  yet 
but  very  imperfectly  comprehend ;  all  of  which  goes 
far  to  prove  that  we  are  functioning  as  spiritual 
beings  at  the  present  time,  and  that  our  external  bod- 
ies are  far  less  of  us  than  we  have  generally  been 
disposed  to  believe. 

All  this  ever-extending  knowledge  of  our  interior 
being  is  rapidly  sweeping  away  those  old-time  objec- 
tions to  Spiritualism  which  were  based  on  extremely 
limited  and  almost  entirely  materialistic  views  of 


320     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

human  nature.  But  this  widening  view  of  our  com- 
mon nature  does  not  only  afford  us  a  larger  idea  of 
our  capabilities,  scientifically  speaking;  it  gives  us 
boundless  reason  for  insisting  with  ever-increasing, 
confident  earnestness  upon  the  goodness  of  our 
nature,  for  this  wonderful  "sub-consciousness," 
about  which  so  much  is  being  written  and  said,  is 
by  no  means  diabolical  but  rather  celestial  in  its 
inherent  tendencies,  when  these  are  rescued  from 
the  clutch  of  excrescent  attachments,  which  often 
veil,  though  they  cannot  destroy,  the  essential  entity 
or  ego.  "Subjective,"  "sub-conscious"  and  "sub- 
liminal" are,  as  we  all  know,  three  words  greatly  in 
evidence  in  contemporary  literature,  and  though  they 
are  certainly  inadequate  to  account  for  all  that  many 
of  their  most  frequent  users  seek  to  explain  by  means 
of  them,  they  can  well  serve  a  definite,  even  though 
it  be  a  distinctly  limited,  purpose.  The  prefix  "sub" 
is  so  often  used  in  two  opposite  ways  that  it  is  not 
always  clear  in  what  sense  it  is  employed  by  a  par- 
ticular author  unless  we  are  familiar  with  his  dis- 
tinctive employment  of  the  term. 

F.  W.  H.  Myers,  in  his  very  valuable  treatise  on 
"Human  Personality,  Its  Survival  of  Bodily 
Death,"  compares  us  to  trees  whose  rots  are  hidden 
while  their  trunks  and  branches  are  revealed.  If 
such  be  a  fair  analogy,  then  what  lies  behind  the 
mortal  screen  is  "subjective"  not  in  the  sense  of  in- 
ferior but  interior.  Hudson,  in  all  his  writings,  con- 
sistently used  the  phrase  "subjective  mind"  in  pre- 
cisely that  connection,  though  he  appears  to  have 
frequently  obscured  some  of  his  meanings  by  per- 
sistently employing  a  single  phrase  to  cover  ground 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     321 

which  Mrs.  Besant  covers  by  using  two  definite 
titles.  Among  Theosophists  in  general,  "super-con- 
sciousness" is  the  term  employed  to  convey  the  idea 
of  higher  planes  of  Nature,  "sub-consciousness"  be- 
ing reserved  to  describe  what  is  actually,  morally  and 
spiritually  speaking,  below  the  level  of  our  present 
human  elevation.  Be  this  as  it  may,  for  we  have 
no  wish  to  wrangle  over  phrases,  it  is  clear  that  the 
"Emanuelists"  and  other  useful  workers  in  the 
ample  field  of  psycho-therapy  appeal  with  great  con- 
fidence to  what  they  feel  to  be  some  inner  plane  of 
consciousness  which  often  readily  responds  to  ben- 
evolent suggestion,  and  the  whole  structure  of  much 
mental  treatment  which  is  highly  useful  reposes  on 
a  foundation  of  faith  in  the  willingness  as  well  as 
ability  of  our  inner  selves  to  respond  to  healthy  sug- 
gestions. Spiritualists  who  cling  to  an  old-fashioned 
terminology  often  dispute  with  students  of  similar 
phenomena  who  speak  another  language ;  it  is  there- 
fore highly  desirable  that  honest  inquirers  should 
get  together  and  compare  notes  dihgently  with  a 
view  to  reaching  some  clear  conclusion  which  may 
be  mutually  comprehensible. 

We  should  all  spurn  the  idea  as  absurd  should 
anyone  tell  us  that,  because  we  have  certain  powers 
of  our  own  and  do  much  work  individually,  there- 
fore we  never  act  in  concert  with  our  neighbors; 
but  such  a  statement,  ridiculous  as  it  must  appear, 
is  not  necessarily  less  logical  than  the  contention 
that  there  is  no  communion  with  our  friends  in 
spirit  who  have  "crossed  the  border"  because  we 
have  demonstrated  mental  telegraphy  and  telephony 
and   frequently  enjoy  inter-communion  in  psychic 


322     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

ways  while  still  continuing  incarnate.  Every  fact 
has  a  value  of  its  own,  and  the  only  rational  way 
of  dealing  with  facts  is  to  compare  them  one  with 
another  with  a  view  to  arriving  at  some  lucid  syn- 
thesis. Spiritualism  can  reasonably  be  said  to  in- 
clude very  much  more  than  a  simple  establishment 
of  the  rudimentary  doctrine  of  survival  of  bodily 
death,  and  this  the  accumulated  history  of  the  past, 
since  1848,  abundantly  demonstrates.  Spiritualism 
is  the  pioneer  among  all  modern  cults.  The  Theo- 
sophical  Society  was  founded  in  1875,  and  the  Chris- 
tian Science  and  many  other  movements,  in  their 
present  organized  form,  are  even  younger. 

If  Spiritualists  resolve  to  do  the  great  work  which 
they  are  well  capable  of  performing  to-day,  as  in 
years  gone  by,  both  in  their  organised  and  unorgan- 
ised capacities,  they  should  especially  endeavor  to 
unify  the  many  diverging,  but  not  properly  contra- 
dictory, schools  of  thought  at  present  striving  for 
supremacy.  There  can  be  no  true  spiritual  hfe 
where  there  is  dissension  and  disunion.  Unity,  but 
not  uniformity,  is  ever  essential  to  co-operative  ac- 
tivity, and  only  as  co-operators  can  we  live  a  truly 
spiritual  life.  Intellectual  differences  being  clearly 
unavoidable,  we  must  look  for  a  basis  of  agreement 
upon  a  plane  deeper  than  the  intellect,  and  that  plane 
is  the  seat  of  trul}^  philanthropic  sentiment.  Too 
often  in  all  our  researches  into  tlie  mysteries  of  the 
universe  we  seem  to  be  actuated  solely  by  a  desire  to 
get,  not  give,  and  it  is  on  account  of  this  selfish  ten- 
dency that  we  often  obtain  so  very  little  of  per- 
manent value  among  the  floods  of  messages  which 
reach  us  through  the  gateway  of  mediumship,  even 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     2)^3 

though  many  communications  are  received  which 
from  the  simply  evidential  standpoint  are  truly  of 
great  significance.  There  are  distinct  standpoints 
from  which  to  judge  all  alleged  communications, 
viz.,  the  scientific  and  the  ethical.  From  the  scien- 
tific viewpoint,  as  Dr.  J.  H.  Hyslop  and  other  well- 
known  authors  and  experimenters  frequently  de- 
clare, the  more  trivial  the  message  (in  some  re- 
spects) the  greater  its  convincingness,  while  from 
the  ethical  side  a  totally  dififerent  standard  of  judg- 
ment must  be  considered.  At  first  we  are  all  natur- 
ally curious  to  know  if  any  psychic  phenomena  can 
be  proved  indubitably  genuine ;  our  interest  is  cen- 
tred entirely  in  the  fact  of  simple  evidence,  but  after 
we  have  fully  established  certain  rudimentary  con- 
clusions, if  we  are  actuated  to  any  appreciable  ex- 
tent by  benevolent  motives,  we  desire  to  do  positive 
good  with  our  Spiritualism,  instead  of  enjoying 
spirit  communion  simply  as  a  private  luxury  or  an 
intellectual  entertainment.  Wireless  telegraphy  had 
to  be  demonstrated  before  Marconi's  famous  system 
could  gain  the  credence  of  the  commercial  world, 
but  now  that  it  is  no  longer  the  startling  sensation 
it  was  some  years  ago,  people  are  wisely  endeavor- 
ing to  make  such  real  use  of  it  that  accidents  at  sea 
may  be  avoided,  and  in  case  of  danger,  relief  may 
be  quickly  afiforded  to  all  in  jeopardy.  We  may  well 
rest  satisfied  with  the  thought  that  on  unseen  planes 
of  Nature  there  exist  all  sorts  and  conditions  of 
entities  with  whom  we  can  and  do  commune  far 
more  readily  and  frequently  than  we  are  usually  in- 
clined to  believe,  and  it  is  scarcely  going  too  far  to 
say  that  no  claim  is  too  extravagant  to  be  within  the 


324     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

scope  of  possibility  where  such  communion  is  con- 
cerned. 

We  are  accustomed  to  speak  glibly  of  "supernal" 
and  "infernal"  influences  without  realizing  sufifi- 
ciently  that  those  entities  who  are  commonly  called 
"angels"  on  the  one  hand  and  "devils"  on  the  other 
are  only  ordinary  human  beings,  in  the  one  case 
higher  and  in  the  other  instance  lozver  in  develop- 
ment than  our  immediate  selves.  Masters,  adepts, 
initiates,  guardian  angels,  etc.,  are  only  titles  given 
to  human  spirits  further  advanced  in  power  and 
knowledge  than  we  ^re  at  present.  The  fact  that 
we  conceive  of  them  and  appear  to  comprehend  their 
attributes  is  excellent  proof  that  we  contain  all 
they  express;  the  only  real  difference  between  their 
condition  and  ours  consisting  in  the  fact  that  they 
have  actually  developed  many  faculties  which  are 
at  present  dormant  in  ourselves.  These  higher  in- 
telligences are  commonly  called  "elder  brethren" 
by  Theosophists,  and  that  is  an  excellent  expression 
on  account  of  the  clearness  with  which  it  suggests 
their  relation  to  us  and  ours  to  them.  Nothing  can 
be  more  self-evident  than  that  we  are  all  substan- 
tially well  agreed  as  to  what  are  celestial  attributes. 
No  one  takes  exception  to  the  words  attributed  to 
the  great  Master  of  Christendom :  "I  am  among  you 
as  one  that  serveth,"  and  "he  who  would  be  great- 
est among  you,  let  him  be  a  minister  to  all."  The 
law  of  ministration  is  always  strongly  emphasized 
by  spiritually-minded  thinkers,  and  we  are  actually 
getting  used  to  the  daring  statement  made  by  many 
"New  Thought"  advocates  that  "God  is  servant  to 
man,"  which  is  only  the  other  side  of  a  deep,  vita) 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     325 

truth  expressed  familiarly  in  the  time-honored 
phrase,  ''We  are  all  servants  of  God."  Great  propo- 
sitions must  be  turned  upside  down  and  inside  out 
before  we  can  intelligently  estimate  their  compre- 
hensiveness. It  has  often  occurred  that  some  single 
aspect  of  the  advantages  of  spiritual  inter-commu- 
nion has  been  studied  and  valued  out  of  all  due 
proportion  to  others,  and  that  aspect  has  often 
been  the  one  which  has  appealed  to  the  self-seeking 
rather  than  to  the  neighbor-blessing  tendencies  of 
our  indubitably  complex  human  character.  We  wish 
others  to  serve  us,  but  we  are  not  as  a  rule  so  ready 
to  serve  as  to  be  served.  We  are  all  ready  enough 
to  sing  with  feeling,  ''Angels  ever  bright  and  fair, 
take,  oh,  take  me  to  your  care,"  but  we  are  not, 
as  a  rule,  quite  so  ready  to  pray  that  we  may  offi- 
ciate as  angels  taking  others  to  our  care.  It  is  this 
aspect  which  must  be  brought  prominently  forward 
if  we  are  truly  in  earnest  concerning  the  deepening 
of  our  spiritual  life,  or,  in  other  words,  developing 
real  practical  spirituality. 

We  know  well  enough  that  there  are  many  good 
definitions  of  the  great  word  spirit,  but  the  sim- 
plest and  most  obvious  of  them  all,  breath,  from 
the  Latin  spiritiis,  must  by  no  means  be  ignored. 
We  are  often  reminded  that  we  have  reduced  a 
Latin  word  of  eight  letters  to  an  English  word  of 
six,  and  then  have  forgotten  (apparently)  the 
source  whence  our  abbreviated  term  has  been  de- 
rived. This  error  is  being  rapidly  corrected  by  the 
vast  amount  of  attention  now  given  to  breathing 
exercises  of  all  descriptions,  from  the  simplest  to 
the  most  complicated,  but  here  again  we  are  con- 


326     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

fronted  with  the  same  old  question:  Why  are  we 
practising  Yoga  or  anything  therewith  connected? 
The  breath  of  life  is  the  original  definition  of 
spirit,  and  to  breathe  rhythmically  is  essential,  alike 
to  mental  and  bodily  vigor.  Health  is  now  happily 
being  re-defined  as  wholeness,  therefore  religion  and 
science,  long  divorced,  are  now  being  re-married 
with  excellent  prospects  for  producing  living  and 
abiding  offspring,  who  will  not  prove  unmindful  of 
sanitary  law  as  applied  to  all  phases  of  existence.  A 
book  of  great  value,  "Religion  and  Medicine,"  the 
joint  product  of  two  distinguished  clergymen  and  a 
famous  physician  of  Boston,  U.  S.  A.,  embodies 
many  of  the  latest  and  most  popular  teachings  of 
the  Church  and  the  medical  profession,  when  the 
two  combine  to  wage  a  war  of  extirpation  upon  all 
phases  of  disease,  physical,  mental,  moral  and  spir- 
itual, through  the  benign  agency  of  well-directed 
thought,  inspired  by  righteous  love,  and  sustained 
by  reasonable  faith  in  the  essential  goodness  of  our 
common  human  nature.  Rev.  Elwood  Worcester, 
D.  D.,  and  Rev.  Samuel  McComb,  D.  D.,  are  at- 
tached as  co-rectors  to  the  now  famous  Emanuel 
Church  in  Boston,  which  gave  name  to  the  much 
discussed  Emanuel  movement.  Dr.  Isidor  Coriat  is 
a  physician  of  distinct  eminence.  These  three 
learned  gentlemen  have  produced  between  them  a 
singularly  valuable  volume,  in  which  ancient  and 
modern  thought  and  practice  are  placed  side  by 
side  in  such  a  manner  as  powerfully  to  suggest  tlie 
vital  thought  of  constant  Divine  immanence  and 
the  permanent  certainty  of  good  accomplished,  re- 
gardless of  time  and  country,  if  we  but  place  our- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     327 

selves  in  receptive  attitude  toward  beneficent  spirit- 
ual influx:  precisely  as,  on  the  physical  plane,  we 
may  enjoy  fresh  air  and  brilliant  sunshine  if  we 
only  arrange  and  open  our  windows  and  ventilators 
in  a  scientific  manner  so  as  to  avail  ourselves  freely 
of  the  copious  natural  blessings  which  are  incessantly 
at  the  disposal  of  rich  and  poor  alike.  It  is  often 
urged  by  opponents  of  the  '"Emanuel"  and  similar 
movements,  that  the  Church  of  to-day  is  placing 
altogether  too  much  stress  upon  physical  healing  and 
mundane  affairs  in  general.  A  complaint  is  made, 
in  ecclesiastical  and  lay  journals  alike,  that  our  re- 
ligion is  properly  a  "spiritual"  affair,  and  therefore 
cannot  concern  itself  in  any  direct  way  with  either 
the  cure  of  bodily  distempers  or  making  provision 
for  physical  necessities;  the  good  clergymen  and 
others  who  are  engaging  in  much  excellent,  seem- 
ingly secular,  work,  are  roundly  berated  in  many 
quarters  for  stepping  aside  from  their  proper  field 
of  "spiritual"  activities  and  devoting  themselves  to 
matters  of  less  moment  and  far  lower  interest  than 
the  "soul-saving"  occupation  in  which  their  fanati- 
cal critics  consider  they  should  be  exclusively  en- 
gaged. Much  the  same  cry  is  not  infrequently 
raised  in  Spiritualistic  societies  by  people  who  be- 
lieve in  a  kind  of  narrow  Spiritualism,  which  deals 
exclusively  with  matters  pertaining  to  what  is  termed 
conventionally  "the  future  life"  and  "the  other 
world."  Now,  our  ideal  of  spirituality,  and  it 
certainly  accords  completely  with  Greek  philosophy 
and  primitive  Christian  doctrine  and  practice,  is 
that  spirit  pervades  matter,  that  the  external  world 
is  ensouled   by  spirit  which   interpenetrates  every 


328     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

seemingly  solid  substance,  verily  occupying  the  in- 
terstices between  the  electrons  into  which  the  atoms 
of  matter  are  now  scientifically  broken  up.  If  the 
newest  scientific  theory  of  matter  is  entitled  to  seri- 
ous attention,  then  we  must  soon  arrive  at  something 
like  a  revival  of  the  ancient  alchemical  concept  of 
a  single  primary  substance,  and  we  may  well  re- 
member that  the  phrase  "one  element"  is  found 
in  the  poetry  of  Tennyson  as  well  as  in  the  magi- 
cal treatises  of  mystic  philosophers  and  occult  scien- 
tists to  whose  long-dishonored  discoveries  and  dec- 
larations the  learned  world  of  to-day  is  beginning 
to  render  serious  attention. 

Where  is  that  "spirit  world"  about  which  we  hear 
so  much ;  where  are  those  "seven  spheres"  or  where 
can  we  locate  any  "heaven,"  "paradise,"  or  "pur- 
gatory" about  which  theologians  speak  so  glibly? 
Omar  Khayyam,  in  his  world-famous  "Rubaiyat," 
has  answered  these  questions  in  a  few  vivid  sen- 
tences of  fervid  verse  more  fully  than  they  have 
been  dealt  with  in  many  a  bulky  tome  of  labored 
philosophy  or  scholastic  theology.  A  deep  student 
of  Sufism  (Dr.  Norton  Hazeldine,  now  of  Los  An- 
geles, Cal.),  after  having  spent  many  years  in  Per- 
sia and  other  Eastern  lands,  has  in  a  singularly 
beautiful  version  6i  the  esoteric  aspect  of  the 
"Rubaiyat,"  given  us  the  following  translation  of  a 
portion  of  the  sixty-seventh  quatrain: 

"Hear  ye  then  this  simple,  yet  most  ancient  of  the 
truths,  how  man  can  gain  knowledge  of  life  be- 
yond the  tomb.  Control  thyself,  and 'with  thy  senses 
send  thy  soul  into  its  elements  there  to  wring  out 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     329 

the  secret  of  its  Birth  and  End.  The  gentle  voice 
of  the  silence  whispers  soft  and  low  and  bids  me 
write  the  answer  here  below:  I  myself  am  Heaven, 
I  myself  am  Hell,  I  am  the  Cause  Creative,  I  am 
the  Way,  the  End." 

It  must  always  be  remembered  that  the  personal 
pronoun  is  used  here  precisely  as  Emerson  in  his 
famous  saying, 

*'I  am  owner  of  the  sphere, 

Of  the  seven  stars  and  the  solar  year," 

has  employed  it;  no  private  ownership,  nothing  but 
universal  participation  in  public  reality  is  mtended 
in  each  instance. 

This  brings  us  to  our  most  vital  point  of  all — 
the  possibility  of  enjoying  an  inward  life  of  rest 
and  peace  regardless  of  how  fiercely  the  tempest 
may  prevail  about  us.  Natural  analogies  are  al- 
ways ready  to  hand  to  illustrate  this  greatest  and 
sweetest  of  all  important  truths — the  complete  bene- 
ficence of  all  life's  varied  experiences  when,  as  Sir 
Edwin  Arnold  has  phrased  it,  while  treating  of 
the  faith  of  Islam,  they  are  "viewed  from  Allah's 
throne  above."  It  seems  unthinkable  that  any  rea- 
soning Spiritualist  should  entertain  a  pessimistic 
or  even  a  semi-pessimistic  view  of  the  universe,  but 
it  certainly  appears  that  many  people  never  allow 
themselves  to  carry  their  own  philosophy  to  its  logi- 
cal final  result.  Irrespective  oi  our  religious,  philo- 
sophical, or  other  ideas  and  opinions,  we  are  all 
compelled  to  admit  that  our  external  life,  regard  it 


330     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

as  we  may,  is  at  least  for  many  of  us  filled  with 
tragedies.  To  shut  our  eyes  to  manifest  phenomena 
is  childish  if  not  absurd,  but  because  we  allow  that 
facts  occur  we  are  in  no  way  obliged  to  interpret 
them  pessimistically. 

A  truly  spiritual  view  of  life  must  ever  be  one 
which  takes  no  very  great  amount  of  any  outward 
gain  or  loss  when  such  is  contrasted  with  inward 
pain  and  pleasure.  In  spite  of  all  false  utterances 
to  the  contrary,  the  words  remain  true  through  all 
succeeding  ages  that  "a  man's  life  consisteth  not 
in  the  multitude  of  the  things  which  he  possesseth." 
It  is  sometimes  irrationally  claimed  by  certain  So- 
cialists and  others  that  to  fix  our  thoughts  upon 
a  life  beyond  the  present  is  to  encourage  the  rich 
in  their  oppression  of  the  poor,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  counsel  underfed  and  overworked  multi- 
tudes to  be  content  with  their  lot  in  this  world,  be- 
cause everything  will  be  straightened  out  equitably 
in  some  life  to  come.  Needless  to  say,  there  is  some 
shallow  ground  on  which  such  an  assertion  can  be 
made  to  stand,  but  to  claim  that  there  is  any  neces- 
sary or  logical  relation  between  faith  in  spiritual 
realities  and  encouragement  of  inequitable  social 
conditions  is  actually  ridiculous.  Probably  no  peo- 
ple in  England  or  elsewhere  to-day  are  exerting 
themselves  more  vigorously  and  tirelessly  for  the 
betterment  of  all  social  conditions  than  those  whose 
particular  brand  of  religious  conviction  is  desig- 
nated New  Theology,  but  the  Rev.  R.  J.  Campbell 
and  his  associates  an^  sympathizers  are  in  the  front 
rank  of  those  interested  in  proving  the  reality  of 
a  spiritual  life  continuous  beyond  earthly  dissolu- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     331 

tion.  What  is  to  many  a  new  point  of  view  must 
now  be  taken,  and  Spiritualists  should  be  among  the 
first  to  emphasise  the  hereness  and  nozvness  of  the 
spiritual  life  and  its  omnipresent  activities.  Clair- 
voyance, clairaudience,  clairsentience  and  all  other 
extensions  of  normal  faculty  simply  suggest,  in  the 
most  obvious  manner,  that  our  universally  admitted 
five  senses,  regardless  of  any  greater  number  which 
we  may  latently  possess,  are  by  no  means  confinable 
within  any  determinable  boundaries.  We  see,  hear, 
taste,  touch,  smell,  but  how  far  do  these  five  words 
convey  ideas  to  us  respectively?  Clear  sight,  hear- 
ing and  feeling  can  only  mean  more  than  the  aver- 
age ;  thus  for  convenience  sake  we  often  repudiate 
the  old  word  supernatural  and  take  refuge  in  super- 
normal. 

But,  again,  let  us  inquire  what  is  meant  by  nor- 
'mal,  seeing  that  we  have  no  fixable  standard  by 
which  to  determine  the  limits  of  normality.  At 
least  we  all  agree  that  our  normal  is  someone's  su- 
pernormal and  may  be  someone  else's  subnormal. 
In  an  art  gallery,  adorned  with  hundreds  of  ex- 
quisite paintings,  we  cannot  determine  for  each 
other  any  criterion  of  judgment  except  to  a  very 
limited  extent,  for  sight,  as  well  as  artistic  appre- 
ciativeness,  differs  so  widely  among  us  that  we  can 
only  speak  positively  regarding  the  impression  a 
certain  picture  makes  on  us  individually.  On  the 
walls  are  noble  portraits  finely  executed,  each  dis- 
playing the  features  of  some  distingiu'shed  man  or 
woman  who  has  achieved  something  noteworthy. 
Turning,  then,  froni  portraits  of  individuals,  our 
gaze   rests   upon   landscapes    and    seascapes,    upon 


332     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

peaceful  valleys  and  populous  marts  of  trade ;  again 
we  are  invited  to  contemplate  some  single  flower 
or  a  cluster  of  charming  blossoms,  and  now  a  bird 
and  then  an  animal  is  presented  to  our  view.  What 
is  the  mission  of  all  this  art;  why  are  there  paint- 
ers, and  why  do  we  prize  and  exhibit  paintings? 
Surely  we  must  see  in  all  this  display  of  talent  and 
beauty  something  far  beyond  the  mere  gratification 
of  some  aesthetic  fancy,  or  our  Art  Schools  and 
their  students  are  reduced  to  the  most  insignificant 
caterers  to  an  ephemeral  taste  for  the  externally 
attractive.  If,  however,  as  Ruskin  taught,  art  is 
to  be  cultivated  not  for  its  own  but  for  humanity's 
sake,  we  can  see  in  the  true  artist  a  conscientious 
worker  in  the  field  of  spiritual  elevation  and  re- 
form, for  as  art  is  always  an  avenue  through  which 
the  populace  is  ready  to  be  reached,  the  painter  and 
sculptor  must  take  their  places  among  ministers  of 
a  sublime  and  everlasting  gospel,  bringing  the  glad 
tidings  of  spiritual  reality  to  a  world  pressed  down 
to  the  lowest  depths  ofttimes  by  a  crushing  sense 
of  the  unreality  of  all  that  it  has  hugged  most  affec- 
tionately to  its  bosom.  Through  a  picture  or  a 
statue  a  lesson  can  be  quietly,  effectively,  and  per- 
manently conveyed  to  multitudes  as  in  no  other 
way.  When  Mrs.  Besant  visited  Chicago  in  the 
autumn  of  1907,  she  greatly  impressed  the  citizens 
of  that  vast  cosmopolis  by  calling  their  attention  to 
the  fine  work  done  by  many  painters  whose  works 
were  conspicuously  exhibited,  and  at  the  same  time 
making  a  strenuous  plea  for  a  generally  higher 
range  of  subjects  than  those  ordinarily  selected. 
Here   is  a  broad  suggestion   for  the  popularizing 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     2>o6 

of  much  that  is  best  in  Spiritualism.  Artists  who 
are  inspirational  and  deeply  imbued  with  a  keen 
sense  of  the  possible  sublimity  of  their  vocation, 
have  a  practically  boundless  prairie  in  which  to 
range  when  determined  to  consecrate  their  gifts  of 
conception  and  expression  to  the  embodying  of  high 
ideals  on  canvas  or  in  bronze  or  marble. 

We  none  of  us  dwell  sufficiently  on  the  uses  of 
good  objects  of  art  in  our  homes,  schools,  and  pub- 
lic thoroughfares.  The  fact  that  much  has  been 
done  already,  and  with  excellent  results,  is  only  an 
evidence  of  how  more  can  yet  be  accomplished  and 
with  still  greater  righteous  consequences  if  we  but 
embrace  our  golden  opportunities.  Music  in  one 
sense  is  even  more  effectual  than  the  still  arts  in 
arousing  emotion  and  lifting  thought  above  external 
sordidness;  but  with  all  its  power  and  charm,  the 
very  nature  of  music  being  volatile  prevents  its 
occupying  the  special  place  which  the  other  arts 
must  occupy.  In  a  spiritual  temple,  be  it  a  spacious 
palace  or  a  humble  attic  in  a  modest  dwelling  house, 
the  fabric  should  always  be  able  to  do  a  work  by 
itself  silently  and  suggestively,  quite  without  refer- 
ence to  any  stated  exercises  carried  on  within  its 
walls.  A  very  good  tendency  among  many  Spirit- 
ualists to-day  is  to  secure  homes  for  spiritual  work, 
the  atmosphere  of  which  can  easily  be  rendered  dis- 
tinctive and  uplifting  in  highly  pronounced  degree, 
and  to  accomplish  this  excellent  end  fully  we  should 
introduce  all  possible  accessories  of  a  beautiful  and 
useful  nature.  But  there  is  always  one  aspect  of 
spiritual  philosophy  brighter,  wider,  and  more  rich- 
ly consoling  than  all  the  rest,  and  that  is  the  great 


334     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

theme  of  experiences  gainable  in  sleep  and  trance; 
and  let  us  remember  that  on  this  point  Spiritualists 
and  Theosophists  have  a  wide  and  comprehensive 
meeting  ground.  Only  comparatively  rarely  do  we 
get  definite  information  of  the  spirit-world  or 
''astral  plane"  while  we  are  awake;  this  is  because 
we  are  so  very  much  engrossed  with  external  in- 
terests and  business  that  it  is  only  seldom  that  we 
can  bestow  serious  thought  on  anything  outside  our 
immediate  secular  engagements.  But  during  sleep 
our  condition  is  entirely  reversed,  for  no  sooner 
do  we  enter  the  sleeping  condition  than  we  turn 
our  backs  upon  the  outer  and  our  faces  toward  the 
inner  world.  During  eight  hours  out  of  every 
twenty- four  many  people  rest  completely  from  all 
external  cares  and  responsibilities,  and  thereby  ob- 
tain not  only  complete  refreshment  but  spiritual 
equipment  for  the  varied  work  which  daily  lies  be- 
fore them.  Just  as  a  well-spent  day  earns  a  peace- 
ful night,  so  does  a  well-spent  night  prepare  us  for 
a  happy,  useful  day.  Education  while  asleep,  or  in 
a  state  of  trance,  is  one  of  the  most  important 
and  fascinating  topics  in  which  Spiritualists  can 
become  vitally  interested,  and,  as  a  conclusion  to  our 
present  essay,  we  wish  to  offer  a  fe\w  practical 
hints  for  consciously  enlarging  the  beneficial  scope 
of  our  nocturnal  inspiration.  After  retiring,  while 
yet  awake,  it  is  a  very  good  practice  to  concentrate 
attention  thoroughly  upon  some  subject  or  place 
with  which,  or  individual  with  whom,  we  would  like 
to  be  specially  related  during  slumber  or  entrance- 
ment  Before  going  to  sleep  it  is  well  to  resolve 
to  wake  slowly  and  suggest  to  yourself,  while  pass- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     335 

ing  into  the  sleeping  condition,  that  you  will  carry 
across  the  border  with  you  some  well-defined  re- 
membrance of  how  and  where  you  ha'\  e  spent  your 
night.  Very  often  we  gain  by  that  process  much 
information  of  great  importance,  helpful  in  a  large 
variety  of  ways,  and  most  of  all  do  we  become 
increasingly  conscious  of  the  blessed  fact  that  night 
by  night  we  can  work  and  dwell  among  our  **de- 
parted"  loved  ones,  as  day  by  day  we  minister  and 
travel  among  our  still  incarnate  friends.  With  pure 
resolve  to  gather  useful  knowledge  on  the  psychic 
plane  and  employ  it  for  beneficial  ends  we  can  safely 
practise  an  exercise  which  develops,  in  an  orderly 
manner,  a  faculty  of  our  inner  nature  and  enables 
us  to  answer  in  a  definite  affirmative  the  ever-press- 
ing query,  "If  we  appear  to  die  do  we  yet  continue 
to  live?" 

We  are  here  and  now  uving  in  infinity  and 

ETERNITY. 

When  this  mighty  truth  is  clearly  realized  there 
is  no  longer  for  us  any  "this"  or  "other"  world, 
for  we  have  grown  to  perceive  that  boundary  lines 
of  space  and  time  relate  only  to  those  exterior 
planes  of  consciousness  which  it  is  ever  the  distinc- 
tive province  of  spiritual  discernment  immeasurably 
to  transcend. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  ESOTERIC  TEACHINGS  OF   THE   GNOSTICS — THE 
DIVINE  FEMININE. 

No  more  fascinating  doctrine  than  that  of  Gnos- 
ticism can  possibly  engage  our  interest,  and  espe- 
cially now  that  the  position  properly  assignable  to 
Woman  is  one  of  the  burning  issues  of  the  times. 
According  to  Frances  Swiney,  who  has  written  a 
wonderful  book  treating  upon  this  topic,  among 
true  Gnostics,  Woman  is  higher  than  Man,  as 
Sophia,  the  Divine  Feminine,  is  the  central  ob- 
ject of  Gnostic  adoration.  In  a  perfectly  synthe- 
sized system  of  thought  and  practise,  we  feel  well 
assured  that  neither  sex  will  be  in  the  ascendancy 
over  the  other,  but  as  we  have  seen  so  much  of  ill 
resulting  from  masculine  despotism  and  monopoly, 
Mrs.  Swiney's  other-extreme  doctrine  deserves  ear- 
nest thought  and  careful  consideration,  and  though 
at  first  it  may  strike  the  average  reader  as  prepos- 
terous, there  are  a  good  many  sane  arguments  to 
be  brought  forward  in  support  of  the  main  body  of 
it.  Gnostics  have  seen  the  feminine  aspect  of  Deity 
rather  than  the  masculine,  so  they  have  apotheo- 
sized women  and  relegated  men  to  an  inferior  rank. 
Perfect  sexual  equality  everywhere  acknowledged  is 
our  own  forecast  for  the  coming  age  and  the  com- 

336 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     337 

ing  race;  but  we  can  hardly  expect  that  so  thor- 
oughly ideal  a  condition  can  be  ushered  in  until 
many  children  have  been  born  into  mental  as  well 
as  physical  surroundings  very  far  superior  in  all 
respects  to  those  which  now  almost  universally  ob- 
tain, and  it  can  only  be  through  the  direct  agency 
of  emancipated  and  consecrated  motherhood  that  a 
new  and  higher  race  can  be  brought  into  existence. 
There  is  a  veritable  "mystery  of  godliness"  in  the 
Gnostic  philosophy  now  being  brought  before  the 
public  gaze,  but  there  is  also  a  very  important  "open 
teaching"  concerning  the  relation  of  the  sexes  which 
is  never  properly  concealed,  as  it  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  race  improvement  that  it  be  publicly 
disseminated.  With  the  breaking  up  of  old  ideas 
and  institutions,  now  everywhere  proceeding,  pre- 
paratory to  the  installation  of  a  new  order,  it  is  not 
surprising  to  find  a  vast  amount  of  religious,  social, 
and  industrial  unrest.  This  is  far  from  being  a 
discouraging  symptom  or  a  sign  of  racial  decay; 
it  is,  to  all  who  can  read  the  signs  of  the  present 
day  aright,  a  convincing  proof  that  we  are  on  the 
immediate  verge  of  a  new  era,  in  which  we  may 
reasonably  expect  to  behold  a  condition  of  humanity 
far  superior  to  that  now  extant. 

The  early  Christians  were  many  of  them  Gnos- 
tics, and  there  are  numerous  unmistakable  traces 
of  pronounced  Gnostic  teaching  in  many  of  the 
Epistles  attributed  to  St.  Paul.  This  fact  makes 
it  very  easy  for  Mystics  to  remain  within  the  Catho- 
lic Church  while  they  hold  views  entirely  at  vari- 
ance with  the  common  outer  doctrine  promulgated  in 
parish  churches  and  accepted  as  the  all-in-all  of 


33^     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

Christianity  by  the  great  bulk  of  priests  as  well  as 
,  laity.  Dr.  Anna.  Kingsford,  author  of  that  very 
popular  treatise,  ''The  Perfect  Way,  or  the  Finding 
of  Christ,"  did  not  consider  her  own  position  in 
the  least  degree  inconsistent,  for  she  held  that  there 
is  a  ''church  within  a  church,"  which  is  often  re- 
ferred to  in  the  columns  of  "The  Occult  Review"  as 
"The  Church  of  the  Holy  Grail."  St.  George  Mivart, 
Father  Tyrrell,  and  many  other  distinguished  schol- 
ars of  recent  date,  have  stirred  up  much  controversy 
by  their  "Modernism,"  which  is  not  very  far  re- 
moved from  Gnosticism  in  many  of  its  most  de- 
cided features. 

The  Gnostic  will  never  be  satisfied  with  literalism, 
to  her,  or  for  him,  the  inner  life  or  quickening  spirit 
is  all  that  is  of  real  moment.  Historical  events  or 
episodes  sink  into  insignificance  when  contrasted 
with  a  consideration  of  the  operation  of  the  Divine 
Spirit  within  humanity  in  the  living  present.  His- 
torical discussions  are  never  attractive  to  the  Gnos- 
tic or  to  the  Mystic,  any  further  than  they  may 
prove  useful  in  showing  the  perpetual  continuity  of 
esoteric  doctrine  and  in  illustrating,  by  famous  ex- 
amples, the  place  of  honor  which  Gnostic  teaching 
has  ever  held  among  the  most  enlightened  and  en- 
lightening teachers  of  the  human  race.  From  the 
Preface  to  Mrs.  Swiney's  highly  artistic  and  won- 
derfully illustrated  volume  we  extract  the  follow- 
ing: "There  have  always  been  minds  that  have 
graspedt  in  some  measure,  the  eternal  verities;  they 
have,  as  it  were,  caught  a  transient  vision  of  the 
whole  in  all  its  glory  and  divinity,  and  have  been 
surcharged  with  the  Wisdom  of  the  Highest.     But 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     339 

the  majority  of  the  race  have  lagged  far  behind; 
the  general  development  of  the  spiritual  conscious- 
ness in  mankind  being  as  gradual  as. has  been  the 
organic  evolution.  And  thus  religious  beliefs  mark 
the  state  of  consciousness  to  which  human  psychol- 
ogy has  attained.  We  now  smile  at  the  coats  of 
skin  and  too  solid  flesh  with  which  primitive  man 
in  his  grossness  clothed  the  most  sublime  ideals  of 
his  race.  But,  even  allowing  that  the  transcendent 
reality  was  soon  submerged  under  the  materialised 
form  through  whose  medium  it  was  presented  to 
the  world,  the  Divine  intuition,  like  a  golden  thread 
of  truth,  glistens  through  all  the  various  faiths. 
Interwoven,  in  spite  of  man's  incertitude,  with  the 
objective  manifestations  and  symbolism  was  the 
subjective  indivisible  entity  of  everlasting  Wisdom. 
Forms  of  belief  are  but  the  transitory  phases  of  the 
Soul  in  its  upward  path  from  consciousness  to  con- 
sciousness, from  truth  to  truth,  from  revelation  to 
revelation,  from  glory  to  glory,  until  it  attains  the 
Light  of  Lights. 

"But  mankind  is  loth  to  recognize  the  ephemeral 
character  of  the  distinctive  creeds  that  smother 
the  intrinsic  verity  under  external  ceremonial,  ritual, 
dogma,  theories,  codes,  canons,  conventions,  prece- 
dents and  definitions,  until  the  outward  shell  im- 
prisons the  living  truth  in  an  atrophied  contraction. 
We  forget  that  these  evolutionary  expositions  of 
faith  are  but  resting-places  for  the  human  soul  in 
its  sore  travail  for  self -completion,  as  it  emerges 
from  the  material  depths.  Instead  of  being  rock- 
bound  sepulchres,  in  which  we  bury  our  Christs, 
or  marble  fanes,  crumbling  before  the  onslaught  of 


340    Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

time,  they  are  only  tents  that  are  struck  in  the  dawn- 
ing, when  yet  another  night  of  darkness  has  passed 
away  of  the  ignorance,  fatuity,  and  misery  of 
humanity. 

"We  toil  during  the  night,  as  did  the  disciples  on 
the  Galilean  Sea.  We  behold  but  the  unfathomable 
blackness  of  the  waters,  and  the  inscrutable  vault  of 
the  midnight  sky.  Around  us  lie  obscurity,  mystery, 
and  the  dreaded  Unknown.  Yet,  when  the  morn 
breaks,  comes  also  the  sublime  revelation.  For  en- 
circling us  are  the  everlasting  hills,  and  the  Christos 
awaits  us  on  the  shore — the  shore  of  a  sunlit  sea." 

Gnosticism  and  Occultism  are  very  near  neigh- 
bors and  close  friends,  if  they  are  not  identical; 
therefore  we  are  likely  at  any  time  to  find  these 
terms  used  interchangeably.  True  Occultism  is  a 
system  which  seeks  to  penetrate  below  all  surfaces 
and  discover  what  has  long  been  enshrined  in  seem- 
ingly impenetrable  mystery.  The  fixed  ceremonies 
of  Ecclesiastic  and  Masonic  bodies  can  serve  a  use- 
ful purpose  by  preserving  an  unbroken  tradition. 
Ceremonies  are  like  letters  in  words,  and  words  in 
languages,  but  letters  and  words  are  alike  useless 
and  cumbersome  unless  we  employ  them  wisely  for 
the  conveyance  of  living  thought  from  mind  to  mind 
and  locality  to  locality. 

According  to  a  Gnostic  view  of  religious  tenets, 
the  word  tenet  is  directly  associated  with  tent,  a 
temporary  abiding  or  halting-place,  and  also  a 
movable  dwelling  which  can  be  easily  folded  and 
carried  from  place  to  place,  as  permanent  houses 
certainly  cannot  be.  There  are,  however.  Gnostic 
terhples  as  well  as  tents,  but  these  stand  for  im- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     341 

movable  principles,  the  same  in  every  clime  and 
age,  not  for  special  interpretations  placed  upon  facts 
at  different  epochs  in  human  evolution,  and  by  men 
who  though  high  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  were  often 
far  more  carnal  than  spiritual. 

Mead,  in  his  "Fragments  of  a  Faith  Forgotten," 
tells  us  that  during  the  first  century  of  the  present 
era  the  Gnostics  at  Alexandria  endeavored  to  dis- 
cover a  truly  universal  religion,  or  to  formulate  a 
theosophy  which  would  satisfy  all  minds;  but  the 
new  race  then  springing  up  was  found  to  be  com- 
posed of  such  heterogeneous  material  that  the  task 
was  too  great  for  their  accomplishment.  The  West- 
ern intellect  has  never  seemed  equal  to  the  task  of 
grasping  the  subtle  metaphysics  or  the  abstract  reas- 
oning of  the  Oriental  mind,  and  it  has  been  largely 
on  this  account  that  esoteric  verities  have  been  so 
grossly  carnalized  in  accepted  Christian  definitions. 
Much  of  this  carnalizing  has  proved  so  repulsive  to 
spiritually-minded  people  that  they  have  turned 
away  entirely  from  the  church  and  its  sacraments, 
until  they  have  been  shown  some  inner  meaning  by 
some  outside  teacher  who  has  possessed  the  neces- 
sary insight  into  the  origin  and  inner  meaning  of 
the  mysteries,  enabling  them  to  disentangle  this 
from  the  crude  materialism  in  which  it  has  lain 
long  concealed. 

In  the  light  of  Gnostic  interpretation,  the  charac- 
ters in  the  Gospel  narratives  stand  out  clearly  and 
instructively  as  permanent  human  types,  not  simply 
as  historical  personages  who  lived  once  for  all  at  a 
given  time  in  a  certain  place.  But  it  is  not  by  any 
means  chiefly*  on  that  account  that  the  Gnostic  clue 


342     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

to  the  New  Testament  Is  needed,  but  by  reason  of 
the  profound  verities  veiled  in  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  and  other  arcane  mysteries  that  we  most 
need  this  elucidation.  In  the  popular  notion  of  the 
Divine  Trinity,  there  are  three  Persons  but  only 
one  God.  This  is  said  to  be  a  mystery  too  deep 
for  the  human  intellect  to  probe;  therefore,  outside 
the  Athanasian  Creed  we  find  no  ambitious  at- 
tempts to  define  the  concept.  But  we  cannot  afford 
to  remain  silent  as  to  the  pernicious  influence  ex- 
erted throughout  Christendom  by  the  prevalent  idea 
that  the  three  Divine  Persons  are  exclusively  male. 
Much  older,  purer,  and  far  more  natural  ideas  of 
a  Trinity  are  to  be  found  among  the  records  of 
ancient  Eg}^pt,  where  Osiris,  Isis,  and  Horus  were 
regarded  as  Father,  Mother,  and  Offspring.  Some 
aspects  of  Horus  are  male  and  others  female ;  show- 
ing that  the  highest  and  purest  religious  concepts 
of  the  Egyptians  gave  to  the  feminine  a  place  of 
honor  equal  with  the  masculine  in  all  things.  Peo- 
ple cannot  entertain  an  exclusively  masculine  Idea 
of  Deity  and  at  the  same  time  believe  that  mother- 
hood Is  as  divine  as  fatherhood.  The  degradation 
of  woman  Is  always  supported  most  strongly  where 
the  belief  is  pregnant  that  only  males  are  fit  to 
officiate  at  sacred  altars.  Mohammedanism  has  kept 
women  in  much  greater  servitude  than  Christianity, 
because  it  has  never  tolerated  the  Idea  of  a  Queen 
as  well  as  a  King  of  Heaven,  an  Idea  which  the 
Church  of  Rome  has  always  fostered,  thereby 
largely  counteracting  the  baneful  effect  of  suppress- 
ing the  vision  of  the  Divine  Mother  standing  be- 
tween the  Father  and  the  Child. 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     343 

Judaism  has  never  tolerated  pictorial  representa- 
tions of  the  Divine  One,  for  to  the  pious  Israelite 
any  attempted  picturing  of  Deity  would  be  regarded 
as  a  flagrant  violation  of  the  Decalogue ;  but  in  many- 
Christian  churches,  and  in  illustrated  Bibles,  we 
see  attempts  to  portray  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  al- 
ways by  three  figures — one  of  an  elderly  man,  one 
of  a  younger  man,  and  one  of  a  dove.  Now  the 
dove  hides  the  face  of  the  Divine  Mother,  and  is 
her  emblem.  Were  the  representation  to  be  re- 
stored to  its  original  form,  it  would  be  far  better 
than  it  is  now,  and  when  thus  restored  it  could  be 
readily  interpreted  to  mean  simply  three  distinct 
manifestations  of  Deity  accommodated  to  human 
necessity,  while,  as  H.  P.  Blavatsky  suggested  after 
gazing  upon  Gustave  Dore's  famous  painting,  the 
silence  of  the  formless  mystery  in  the  background 
symbolled  the  Ineffable  One  far  more  than  the  three 
limited  figures  in  the  foreground. 

If  we  must  have  representations  of  human  con- 
ceptions of  Deity,  we  certainly  have  the  right  to 
urge  that  they  be  of  the  most  elevating  character 
possible,  and  this  they  never  can  be  if  they  exclude 
the  mothers  from  equal  rank  with  the  fathers  of 
our  race.  It  is  to  Art  that  we  must  largely  look  to 
carry  the  gospel  of  the  coming  age  to  the  utmost  re- 
gions of  the  earth,  as  works  of  art  anpeal  to  mul- 
titudes to  whom  didactic  teaching  makes  no  appeal 
whatever.  What  is  now  often  called  the  state  of 
Super-man  is  called  by  Gnostics  the  state  of  "the 
woman  perfected,  who  comprises  and  surmounts 
man."  This  is,  of  course,  an  extreme  view,  but  in 
the  interests  of  better  race-propagation  it  is  much 


344     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

safer  to  exalt  woman  above  man  than  to  elevate 
man  above  woman,  because  mothers  exert  a  far 
greater  influence  over  the  unborn,  and  over  little 
children,  than  do  fathers.  The  Gnostic  doctrine  of 
the  Forgiveness  of  Sins  is  an  important  one,  and 
quite  at  variance  with  all  belief  in  "vicarious"  atone- 
ment, for  to  the  Gnostic  it  is  indeed  true  that  Christ 
within  is  "the  hope  of  glory."  Jacob  Boehme  went 
very  far  toward  explaining  the  Gnostic  attitude  when 
he  said:  "God  in  man  gives  that  which  is  sinful 
away.  Nobody  can  forgive  sins  except  Christ  in 
Man.  Whenever  Christ  lives  in  Man,  there  is  the 
absolution."  One  can  very  readily  detect  in  the 
above  utterance  of  a  modern  German  mystic  a  form 
of  esoteric  teaching  which  does  away  entirely  with 
all  disputations  concerning  genealogies  and  other 
purely  external  matters  against  which  all  Gnostic 
writers  in  primitive  Christian  days  continually 
warned  their  catechumens.  It  was  not  earlier  than 
the  fourth  century  that  the  dominant  exoteric  party 
in  the  Church  gained  the  upper  hand  to  such  an 
extent  that  they  forcibly  repressed  all  public  teach- 
ing of  Gnosticism  and  spread  the  infamous  report 
that  Gnostics  were  shockingly  immoral  persons,  who 
sought  to  pervert  the  Gospel  to  the  ends  of  licen- 
tiousness, a  statement  which  is  a  flagrant  contradic- 
tion of  well-attested  fact.  As  no  persecution  or  op- 
position of  any  sort  to  esoteric  teaching  has  ever 
arisen  without  some  superficial  shew  of  justifica- 
tion, it  is  quite  probable  that  some  sincere  persons 
in  bygone  days  did  actually  so  far  misunderstand 
the  real  trend  of  Gnostic  philosophy  as  to  believe 
that  it  advocated  immorality;  but  no  ripe  scholar 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     345 

could  at  any  time  have  held  so  utterly  erroneous  a 
view  unless  he  had  become  so  warped  by  prejudice 
and  fanaticism  as  to  have  rendered  himself  alto- 
gether incompetent  to  weigh  evidence  in  that  par- 
ticular, or  consider  statements  in  the  light  of  calm 
judicial  reasoning.  Gnosticism  had  long  preceded 
Christianity,  and  it  was  no  doubt  often  feared  by 
dominating  ecclesiastics  that  the  real  original  of 
Christian  rites  and  ceremonies  might  be  discovered 
by  the  people  at  large,  if  Gnostic  ''heresies"  were 
tolerated.  The  great  sin  of  Christendom  has  been 
its  arrogant  attitude  toward  all  religious  systems 
older  or  other  than  orthodox  Christianity,  and 
though  it  has  so  far  endorsed  ancient  Judaism  as  to 
declare  that  it  was  a  Divinely  instituted  religion,  its 
attitude  to  modern  Judaism  has  been  one  of  relent- 
less and  unending  opposition  and  persecution.  It 
would  be  a  happy  day  for  persecuted  Israel  in  Russia 
and  several  other  nominally  Christian  lands  were 
the  light  of  Gnosticism  to  break  through  the  dense 
fog  of  prevailing  literalism,  for  then  the  Crucifixion 
of  the  Christ,  being  understood  esoterically  and  uni- 
versally, on  no  pretext  whatever  could  Jews  be 
execrated  as  "Christ-killers,"  a  title  often  applied 
to  them  as  an  excuse  for  the  gross  injustice  with 
which  they  are  treated  many  times  by  their  avow- 
edly Christian  neighbors. 

Emancipated  womanhood  in  the  light  of  Gnostic 
teaching  represents  "Pistis  Sophia"  liberated  from 
all  bondage  to  carnal  lusts,  and  exalted  to  the  throne 
of  dominion  where  she  rightfully  belongs.  Goethe, 
in  the  second  part  of  his  mystic  drama,  "Faust," 
finds  "Mater  Gloriosa,"  the  centre  of  183  Spheres 


346     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

of  light;  this  is  indeed  "the  Divine  Feminine  that 
ever  leads  us  on."  Jealousy  on  the  part  of  male 
disciples  of  a  Master  who  appointed  women  to 
instruct  them  in  the  mysteries  of  Anastasis  (resur- 
rection and  regeneration),  must  have  had  much  to 
do  with  the  rigorous  exclusion  of  women  from  the 
Christian  priesthood,  for  nothing  can  well  be  plainer 
than  the  words  attributed  to  the  risen  Master  in  the 
Fourth  Gospel,  where  he  tells  Mary  Magdalene  to 
tell  his  disciples,  and  especially  Peter  (the  nomi- 
nal head  of  the  Roman  Church),  that  he  has  risen 
from  the  sepulchre.  Entirely  apart  from  an  im- 
mense mass  of  extra-Christian  testimony,  the  ac- 
cepted Gospels  and  Epistles  of  the  New  Testament 
furnish  abundant  evidence  that  the  Master  gave 
many  of  his  deepest  instructions  to  women,  thereby 
initiating  them  into  the  ''mysteries  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,"  a  phrase  well  understood  by  Gnostics,^ 
who  understand  it  to  mean  a  living  realization  of 
truth  inwardly  apprehended,  not  outwardly  wit- 
nessed to  on  historic  grounds,  as  in  the  case  of 
all  who  depend  on  extraneous  testimony  and  not  on 
interior  realization.  The  transmutation  of  all  energv 
is  the  dominant  aspiration  of  the  Gnostics,  and  no 
one  can  be  a  practical,  experienced  Gnostic  who  has 
not  learned  to  so  subdue  the  flesh  to  the  spirit  that 
the  "old  serpent"  becomes  transformed  from  the 
death-dealer  to  the  life-bringer.  Thus  will  the  pro- 
phecy be  at  length  completely  fulfilled,  "They  shall 
take  up  serpents,"  and  thus  also  will  many  equally 
enigmatical  scriptures  be  fully  verified. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

HALIvEy's   comet — ITS    HISTORY   AND   PORTENT — 
VISIBLE  IN    I9IO. 

The  human  mind  in  all  ages  seems  to  have  in- 
stinctively attached  the  idea  of  some  mysterious 
agency  to  the  appearance  of  comets,  those  erratic 
wanderers  through  fields  of  space  whose  movements 
now  seem  to  be  as  calculable  as  the  motions  of 
those  far  less  remarkable  orbs  and  constellations 
which  we  are  accustomed  to  call  Fixed  Stars,  only 
because  we  have  much  more  completely  compre- 
hended their  behavior.  Halley's  Comet,  which  has 
reappeared  this  year  (1910),  after  an  absence  of 
seventy-five  years  since  its  last  appearance,  has  a 
most  eventful  history,  one  which  seems  in  large  de- 
gree to  justify  the  superstitious  awe  with  which 
it  was  regarded  during  the  Middle  Ages,  when  it 
struck  terror  into  the  population  of  many  lands, 
and,  according  to  Draper's  narrative,  contained  in 
his  well-known  "History  of  the  Conflict  Between 
Religion  and  Science,"  was  at  one  time  solemnly 
anathematized  by  the  highest  ecclesiastical  authori- 
ties and  bidden  to  depart  from  the  skies,  as  its 
presence  suggested  to  their  minds  some  diabolical 
agency.     Though  the  masses  of  the  people  every- 

347 


348     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

where  are  supposed  to  be  better  educated,  and  tliere- 
fore  less  superstitious,  now  than  formerly,  it  is  by 
no  means  uncommon  to  hear  fears  expressed  to- 
day that  a  comet  may  work  serious  disaster.  This 
alarm  is  very  ancient,  and,  according  to  Ignatius 
Donnelly,  and  some  other  well-known  authors,  is 
traceable  to  a  great  cosmic  catastrophe  which  oc- 
curred many  ages  ago,  when  our  planet  collided  with 
a  comet,  and  the  Age  of  Fire  and  Gravel  resulted. 
Whatever  foundation  there  may  be  for  such  a  tra- 
dition, there  seems  to  be  nothing  in  the  career  of 
Halley's  Comet  thus  far  to  justify  any  morbid  ap- 
prehensions of  physical  destruction ;  but  history  fur- 
nishes us  with  abounding  evidence  that  truly  great 
events  in  human  history  have  taken  place  when  this 
brilliant  wanderer  has  illumined  the  midnight  sky. 
There  seems  valid  ground  for  declaring  that  events 
move  in  cycles,  that  human  affairs,  like  all  else  in 
Nature,  are  subject  to  a  Law  of  Periodicity,  and 
when  this  law  is  more  fully  understood,  we  shall 
be  able  to  read  the  book  of  history  far  more  in- 
telligently than  most  of  us  are  reading  it  at  present. 
To  the  untutored  and  unscientific  mind,  the  un- 
usual and  the  unexpected  seem  always  to  presage 
evil,  but  to  the  better-informed,  change  by  no  means 
necessarily  spells  disaster.  Granted  that  great  up- 
heavals in  the  affairs  of  nations  have  been  persist- 
ently contemporary  with  the  appearance  of  this  beau- 
tiful celestial  traveller,  alterations  in  the  map  of 
the  world  are  often  unmistakable  signs  of  welcome 
progress,  and  far  from  causing  us  to  believe  that 
when  mighty  changes  impend,  disaster  is  upon  us, 
we  may  learn  to  lift  up  our  heads  with  joy,  feel- 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     349 

ing  that  deliverance  from  many  curses  draweth  nigh. 
The  perihelion  of  our  fascinating  visitor  whose  pres- 
ence in  our  skies  is  now  attracting  immense  atten- 
tion, was  calculated  by  the  illustrious  astronomer, 
Edmund  Halley,  as  having  occurred  August  26, 
1 53 1.  This  same  comet  reappeared,  according  to  the 
same  authority,  October  2y,  1607,  and  then  Sep- 
tember 15,  1682,  at  which  time  Halley  himself  ob- 
served it.  Again  it  made  its  periodic  appearance 
March  13,  1759,  and  November  16,  1835,  ^  <^^te 
within  the  memory  of  many  witnesses  now  living. 
Probably  much  of  the  historic  interest  attaching  to 
its  periodic  visits  is  due  to  the  fact  that  it  was  in 
evidence  at  the  time  of  the  Norman  Concfuest  of 
Great  Britain,  in  1066,  and  it  has  been  observed 
that  momentous  events  have  always  occurred  during 
periods  when  it  has  since  been  visible.  This  year  of 
its  latest  return  visit,  19 10,  has  certainly  done  much 
to  sustain  the  comet's  reputation  as  an  accompanier 
of  startling  occurrences,  for  very  early  in  the  year 
disturbances  of  every  sort  became  rife  in  many  lands, 
and,  particularly  in  America,  Labor  difficulties  have 
proved  extremely  difficult  to  handle.  It  is  certainly 
far  from  foolishly  superstitious  to  investigate,  as  far 
as  we  are  able,  striking  coincidences  which  may 
throw  some  light  on  the  always  interesting  problem 
of  the  sympathetic  relation  between  our  planet  and 
other  members  of  the  stellar  universe,  though  it  is 
inexcusable  on  the  part  of  any  who  know  how  in- 
jurious is  morbid  apprehension  of  coming  calamities, 
to  play  upon  the  fears  of  the  weak-minded  and 
credulous  by  telling  them  that  a  comet  in  the  sky 
is  an  augury  of  coming  fell  disaster. 


350     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

For  convenience  of  reference,  should  any  of  our 
readers  wish  to  look  up  the  leading  events  of  the 
subjoined  years  and  months,  we  append  a  list  of 
the  dates  when  Halley's  Comet  has  been  observed, 
from  II  B.  C,  to  1910  of  our  era.  We  are  in- 
debted to  an  article  in  the  "Popular  Science  Month- 
ly" (Jan.,  191  o)  for  this  precise  information. 
There  have  been  twenty-six  observed  perihelia  of 
this  famous  comet,  the  first  of  which  carries  us 
back  to  II  B.  C.  During  the  present  era  the  pere- 
helion  dates  have  been :  January  26,  66 ;  March  29, 
141  ;  April  6,  218;  April  (date  not  supplied),  295; 
November  7,  530  (beg.) ;  July  3,  451 ;  November  7, 
530  (beg.);  October,684  (date  omitted);  June  11, 
760;.  March  i,  837  April,  912  (early  in  month); 
September  i,  989;  April  i,  1066;  April  19,  11 45; 
August  22,  1222',  October  22,,  1301 ;  November  9, 
1378;  June  8,  1456;  August  26,  1531  (all  above 
dates  are  according  to  Julian  reckoning)  ;  October 
27,  1607;  September  15,  1682;  March  13,  1759: 
November  16,  1835;  May  18,  19 10.  Many  and 
varied  have  been  the  conjectural  theories  advanced 
concerning  comets  in  general  and  in  particular,  but 
the  theory  most  widely  accepted  by  astronomers  to- 
day is  that  they  are  worlds  burning  out — worlds 
which  have  long  since  accomplished  such  active  mis- 
sions as  our  earth  is  now  accomplishing;  for  it  is 
surely  the  purpose  of  the  all-wise  Designer  of  the 
Universe  to  appoint  to  every  star  its  place  and 
mission,  and  as  all  outward  existences  have  a  begin- 
ning, so  at  some  time  and  in  some  way  they  must 
have  an  end.     Astronomy  is  unquestionably  at  once 


Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations.     351 

the  sublimest  and  most  awe-inspiring  of  all  the  sci- 
ences, and  well  may  we  exclaim  with  the  Hebrew 
poet  of  old,  "The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of 
God;  the  firmament  showeth  forth  the  handiwork 
of  the  Eternal  One." 

It  was  by  scanning  the  skies  that  ancient  peoples 
gained  all  their  external  ideas  of  order  in  the  uni- 
verse ;  therefore  we  find  that  all  venerated  Scriptures 
are  largely  astronomical  in  their  references,  and  it 
has  even  been  stated  that  every  Bible  story  can  be 
traced  to  an  astronomical  origin.  Whether  this  be 
so  or  not,  it  is  beyond  reasonable  dispute  that  a  study 
of  the  visible  heavens  was  intimately  bound  up  with 
the  duties  and  occupations  of  all  venerable  priest- 
hoods, the  members  of  which,  in  all  renowned  ancient 
countries,  were  the  scientific  as  well  as  the  religious 
leaders  of  the  multitude;  and  now  with  the  revolu- 
tion of  the  cycles  bringing  us  again  to  a  point  of 
fresh  explorations  and  revelations,  we  are  reviewing 
the  records  of  the  remote  past  with  ever-increasing 
interest  and  fulness,  and  at  the  same  time  witness- 
ing a  new  cult,  or  several  new  cults,  springing  up 
among  us,  seeking  to  embody  the  wisdom  of  the 
past  in  consonance  with  the  discoveries  of  the  pres- 
ent. As  the  new  time  ripens  and  the  modern  spirit 
matures,  we  shall  certainly  grow  to  appreciate  much 
of  the  religion  and  science  of  our  long-departed 
ancestors,  while  the  brighter  light  and  ampler  op- 
portunities for  discovery  and  comparison  which  will 
characterize  the  advancing  epoch  will  enable  us  to 
systematize  and  synthesize  the  knowledge  now  avail- 
able to  the  end  of  constructing  a  synthetic  philo- 


352     Ancient  Mysteries  and  Modern  Revelations. 

sophy  embracing  all  the  excellences  of  past  sys- 
tems without  their  inevitable  limitations.  At  any 
rate,  let  such  be  our  fearless  aim  and  quest,  then 
whatever  legitimate  study  or  research  aids  us  on 
our  way  we  shall  gladly  welcome  and  embrace  it. 


^NIS. 


14  DAY  USE 

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